


In These Woods

by reillyblack



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (Dean has a potty mouth), Alpha Cas, Alpha Castiel, Alpha/Omega, Bottom Dean Winchester, Breeding Kink, Dom/sub Undertones, Dubious Consent, Explicit Language, F/M, From Sex to Love, Gentle Dom Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Knotting, M/M, Mating, Mating Cycles/In Heat, NSFW Art, Omega Dean, Omega Dean Winchester, Omega topping an Alpha, Oral Knotting, Sexism, Soulmates, Sub Dean, Sub Dean Winchester, Top Castiel, alpha!Castiel, alpha!cas, but they're more like switches honestly, discussions of abortion, minor character death (canon), omega!dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-02-21 21:27:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2483045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reillyblack/pseuds/reillyblack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Great War between alphas and omegas ended over a year ago and the birthrate still hasn’t stabilized.  The victors with control of the new government, the alphas, enact an ordinance that every omega of birthing age must conceive within the year or face “consequences”, in order to avoid future economic burden.  Since he has no desire to have children, omega Dean goes on the run before the government can force him to comply.  When he’s caught he quickly finds out what kind of “consequences” they have planned for him -- they come in the form of a blue-eyed, dark-haired disgraced alpha soldier who felt similarly about the order to mate.</p><p>For the 2014 DCBB challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Alpha

Amazing art by uke_sama_sensei ([livejournal](http://uke-sama-sensei.livejournal.com/))

 

Huge thank you to Moira/moosefeels ([tumblr](http://anamericanweremooseinlondon.tumblr.com/), [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MooseFeels/profile)) and Eliza/secretlymisha ([tumblr](http://secretlymisha.tumblr.com/)) for betaing!

 

Part of the [DCBB challenge](http://deancasbigbang.livejournal.com/)

 

[Art Masterpost](http://uke-sama-sensei.livejournal.com/3129.html)

 

 

 

Dean was thinking of all the ways he would gank these dudes when they finally pushed him to the ground, his knees skidding painfully on a stone floor, and ripped the bag off his head. He was in a small room – small and dark and solid.

__

"Get to it," a gruff voice demanded before the screeching of metal on stone and the heavy click of a lock told him he was locked in there alone. No ganking today, at least.

__

A sinking sensation started in the pit of his stomach when he noticed he was not alone. There was a bed in the corner of the barren room, and on it a man sat with his back to Dean, straight and silent.

__

One bed.

__

_Get to it_.

__

Dean struggled to rub the ropes binding his hands against the door hinges, hoping to chafe the restraints enough that he could break them with pure strength. His heart raced, and he kept one eye on the man sitting stock still on the bed who still hadn’t acknowledged his frantic movements.

__

There was really no way he could hope to get these ropes off before this guy decided to have his way with him. He needed hours to work on the ropes and he had minutes, if that; nothing else remotely sharp was within sight.

__

"You don’t need to be afraid of me." A low, alpha voice resonated in the room.

__

"Fuck off," Dean scoffed, continuing his struggle. If the alpha attacked him he might be able to use his weight against him. Dean was agile, and he’d trained as a soldier in the omega camps. He was big for an omega, sturdy too— maybe even bigger than the alpha on the bed, by the looks of him. With some luck and strategic timing, he might be able to knock him out for a few hours and then he would have the time he needed to get the ropes off.

__

Then he’d probably have to kill him before he woke up. Dean had never killed another man before, and the only reason he’d breathed a sigh of relief when the Alphas declared victory was the idea that he might not have to.

__

But then they issued the ordinance requiring that every omega of breeding age become pregnant within the year. Dean didn’t want to kill anyone, but he didn’t want to bring anyone into the world either, let alone with a stranger – especially on fucking orders.

__

So when testing time came, Dean wasn’t there. He’d evaded capture for a few months, using techniques he’d learned hunting with his dad, but in the end, of course they had been able to catch him. How could he have hoped to outrun them when they had such intimate insight into his life and thoughts?

__

Finally the man turned, and Dean almost froze when he found himself caught under icy blue eyes. The man was ruggedly handsome, with tousled dark hair and what looked like a pretty great physique under his Alpha uniform, but looks alone were hardly enough to make Dean want to bend over for him.

__

"I can help you with your ropes."

__

"Don’t come near me, asshole," Dean hissed.

__

"I’m not going to hurt you." His voice grew deeper, softer and somehow more gravelly, like he was talking to a spooked horse.

__

Dean growled low as the man stood and approached him, his arms outstretched exactly like he would approach a skittish animal. Dean  _hated_  that. Alpha arrogance was responsible for the war in the first place - alphas treating omegas like goddamn animals for their use and pleasure.

__

"Back off. Last warning." Dean tensed, completely still as he readied himself to fight, hands or not. He could still kill with a bite, it would just be a lot messier and a thousand times more disgusting.

__

The alpha finally stopped several feet from him, his blue eyes flashing in the dim light of the room.

__

"Fine," He snapped, finally showing the tiniest ounce of emotion. "Do it the hard way, then." He retreated to the bed and his previous position, sitting and staring at the wall impassively with his back to Dean.

__

Dean frowned. Since when did alphas actually listen to omegas? Not since they won the war, in his experience. They’d been especially nasty, trying to remind omegas of their "place" with all the new regulations. They wanted to drill into them that they owned them again, that they’d failed in their rebellion, and that they should never try again.

__

"Seriously?" Dean wondered aloud, getting to his feet. He wasn’t about to let this guy pull a fast one over him, but at the same time… what game was he playing? What did he want? And why was what looked like a high ranking Alpha officer, by the crests on his jacket, stuck in a cell with an omega marked as undesirable, forced to breed? Breeding was a pretty big deal… a partner for making kids was a once-in-a-lifetime decision, in most cases.

__

"What kind of shit got you stuck in here?" Dean asked, a number of chilling possibilities rising to mind. His crimes would have to be pretty bad to warrant such a severe punishment.

__

The man glanced over his shoulder every so slightly, but stayed silent. Dean was just about to pester him again when he finally spoke up.

__

"The new laws don’t just apply to omegas. Alphas of breeding age are required to take a mate if they haven’t already. I was ordered to breed with a potential mate who was unwilling."

__

Dean grimaced. "They don’t seem to have a problem with the whole ‘unwilling’ thing, so that still doesn’t explain why you’re in here."

__

"I refused." He glanced over his shoulder again, a sliver of blue in the darkness. "They promised me someone… feistier, in punishment."

__

_Well, then_.

__

"Voila.” Dean smirked. “Here I am. And I’ll kick your ass if you try anything.”

__

"I’m afraid neither of us has a choice.” The alpha sighed, resigned. “If we continue to fight it, they will induce heat in both of us. I doubt we’ll have the self control to continue to deny ourselves." 

__

Dean blanched but tried to block out the fear he felt threatening to sink in. That sounded grim, sure, but he’d escaped worse before.

__

"Look, as long as you keep your paws to yourself we can help each other out of this, if that’s what you want. If it isn’t, I have no problem killing you in self defense," Dean said, as steely as he could manage.

__

The officer considered him with mild interest. "I won’t touch you for as long as I am physically capable, you have my word."

__

His low, even voice sent shivers up Dean’s spine, but he shook them off quickly.

__

"Awesome. Come help me with these ropes," Dean said cheerfully, death threats carefully tucked away for later use.

 

 

His name was Castiel and he had rough, calloused hands from years of training as a soldier. They brushed Dean’s hands as he untied the rope. Dean sat on the opposite side of the small room and brainstormed ways out of their personal hell.

 

Dean learned through halting conversation that Castiel was an officer before the war, a career military man, and never really approved of the actions the alphas took that lead to the war. He kept his head down and followed orders until the last straw— he could not rape someone; it didn’t matter where the order came from.

__

So he accepted his punishment and went quietly as they tossed him in here two weeks ago. As a 33-year-old alpha without a mate, he knew it would eventually come to this when the orders to breed came out. And he knew they’d found him a particularly ‘unpleasant’ mate when they stopped feeding him three days ago, trying to wear down his self-control with hunger so he would be more likely to attack an omega. He told Dean all of this in a detached way, as if he were telling the story of someone else’s fate rather than his own.

__

Dean decided to call him Cas, because, sure, he was stiff and military-esque all right, but there was something gentle about the way he kept his distance from Dean and didn’t look at him for too long.

__

"How do they bring in the food?"

__

"Through that latch in the floor. There’s no contact; they push it through with a stick. I’ve been an officer all my life, Dean; if there was a way out of here I would have found it." Castiel shrugged tiredly, leaning against the wall on the far side. "Would you like to sit on the bed? It’s far more comfortable than the floor."

__

Dean bristled, tensing. "You sound like an okay dude, but I still don’t trust you farther than I can throw you," Dean replied stiffly.

__

"Understandable." Cas nodded, followed by his awkward tendency to look away and stare at the wall for long periods. "We could take turns. I will sit on the floor for a while," Cas offered, sounding impassive as he turned his hopeless eyes back on Dean.

__

"Alright." Dean shrugged, jumping to his feet. Castiel got up slowly and seemed to sway a bit as he passed Dean. Dean kept a few feet between them and watched his back as Castiel passed. The dude looked tired and hungry, and Dean couldn’t be sure, noble backstory or not, he wouldn’t decide to throw down and just get it over with for a meal.

__

Dean settled down on the bed. It was moderately more comfortable than the floor but still no five-star hotel. Cas sat on the ground looking exhausted and closed his eyes. He seemed to spend a lot of time with his eyes closed.

 

"Are you in pain?" Dean asked while he got as comfortable as he could on the tiny bed. He realized where he’d seen that look – Sammy had worn the same expression as a kid when he didn’t want Dean to know he’d broken his arm playing with Dad’s stuff.

__

Castiel glanced his way, then fixed his eyes on the wall, saying nothing.

__

Dean was hungry. He hadn’t been fed in a day, and his stomach was rumbling.

__

"I’ll think of a way to get us out of here," Dean swore, mostly to himself.

__

Castiel leveled him with a neutral, penetrating stare before he closed his eyes again.

 

_**** _

 

The guards brought the food in at noon every day. Castiel let him make an attempt, sitting in a corner and watching as Dean threw himself onto the stick and tried to wrestle it out of the hands of the guard delivering the food.

__

Dean ended up with a couple of bruised ribs when the guard called for help and six more alphas piled into the room to kick Dean’s stomach until he was wheezing into the stone tiles.

__

“Thanks for the help,” Dean grunted as he clutched at his stomach once they’d all left.

__

Castiel ground his teeth and a muscle twitched in his jaw. He closed his eyes to the sight of Dean on the ground.

__

“I told you.”

__

“What, they pummel you too?”

__

Castiel shook his head. “I’m not that stupid.”

__

“Alright.” Dean managed to sit up and lean against the door, panting through the lingering pain as he fixed Castiel with a withering look. “Got any other suggestions, asshole?”

Castiel arched one condescending eyebrow.

__

“We accept our fates. We mate. We raise a child,” Castiel said steadily.

__

“Easy for you to say. Your job’s over after the fun part. I’m not that lucky. Once my kid’s in this world, there’s no way I could ever leave her to fend for herself. I’d be in it for the long haul.”

__

“Admirable, Dean, but I assure you my part would not end after the mating either. Legally, I would have equal rights to see and care for the child as you would, and I intend to take full advantage of those privileges. Though I would prefer to take a mate in my own time and under my own conditions, one I could share a bed and a life with, I would love any child I brought into this world with every resource available to me. So if that’s a concern for you, please put your fears to rest. I will not abandon you with our child,” he answered.

__

Dean blinked at the sincere and oddly eloquent speech. “Dude, we’re not… breeding, ok?” Dean scrunched his nose. “It’s not happening. No fucking way. You can just shove those baby fantasies right back up where they came from.”

__

“We don’t have a choice,” Castiel repeated sounding infinitely wearied by his cellmate. Dean wanted to punch him and opened his mouth to threaten just that, but Cas continued, “You can scream ‘no fucking way’ all you want, but when they pump you full of heat serum, you’re not going to care what the end result is as long as it stops the burning.” Castiel looked away finally, eyes on the smoke black floor. “I’ve seen it before. No omega can withstand an induced heat without intercourse. You either mate or you beg to die.”

__

A chill ran through Dean’s abused body and he stared hard at Castiel’s lethargic slump.

__

“Why am I not surprised?” He muttered. “You alphas are all the same. You’ll do anything to get what you want.” Dean made no effort to hide the disgust in his tone. “So, what? Any omega who tells you ‘no’ gets a syringe full of ‘yes’?”

__

Dean had been in heat before, just once - the first time. His dad locked him away in the barn with the ‘other animals’ until he could find him heat suppressant pills. By then it was too late, though, and while the pills lessened the burning, the only thing that really cured the ache was the fake knot Dad eventually relented to him, and the jar of alpha… whatever it was. It was oily and slick and it smelled like musk. Dean never asked and John never brought it up, just picked the toy up with a gloved hand, quietly draped a blanket over Dean as he cried into the ground, and left him to shiver away the shock of what he’d just done to himself. It was the last time he let his father see him cry.

Dean always kept extra heat pills on him after that. Even when he escaped into the woods for months to avoid the ordinance, he snuck back into nearby towns to steal heat suppressants before he ran out. Of course, that was what led to his capture in the first place; his unwillingness to face his heats head on, even at great risk. Or at least, it was a contributing factor.

__

“I told you, I would never—“ Castiel paused and wet his lips, his eyes narrowed as he lifted them from the floor to Dean’s unimpressed sneer. “I don’t approve of those methods. That’s why I’m here.”

__

“Yeah, whatever,” Dean grumbled, wincing as he tried to get to his feet. He had to move; the thought of facing a heat again set every nerve in his body on edge.

“It would be better if we could both avoid it. They’re not above sending me into a rut, though--”

__

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure they’d prefer to torment the omega, but if that doesn’t work they’d go after you,” Dean cut him off, his words clipped. Of course alphas had more sympathy for other alphas. They would let Dean writhe in heat for a few hours at least before they forced Cas into a rut.

__

Castiel nodded curtly, his upper lip curled in distaste. Whether the expression was due to Dean’s disdain for alphas or for his fellow alphas’ predictable behavior, Dean had no idea.

__

“Even though I would never take advantage of you in my right mind, I can’t promise that in an induced rut, with the smell of your heat everywhere, I will have much if any control over myself. In fact, I’ve experienced enough ruts to know that any such promise would be foolish.”

__

“So, what? We give up and fuck before they torture us both with our own hormones?”

__

“If they induce our heat and rut, we will not only mate once; we will mate over and over, until we exhaust ourselves so entirely that our bodies can no longer function. They’ll drag you to the labs half unconscious, check to make sure you’ve quickened, and then dump you naked on the streets as a warning to other omegas who dare to disobey the ordinance,” Castiel’s voice was hard.

__

Dean tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry. Humiliation was what the alphas were all about these days, and Castiel wasn’t wrong; he’d seen what Castiel was describing before the war. It was one of the many reasons for the war, in fact. He’d personally seen omegas rolled from the back of military trucks onto a busy street corner on two separate occasions, naked and dripping come and slick between their flushed thighs. The first time, when Dean had been too young to help, alphas driven wild with the scent of the omega’s heat fought each other over possession and dragged him away. In the other instance, a kind omega wrapped the kid up and hid her in her house before the alphas could get their hands on her.

__

Apparently he’d run away before they resumed that particular horrifying practice, though Dean had no idea why he’d expected that they wouldn’t. Everyone knew the alphas were worse than before the war, more controlling, more obsessive— eager to show off their victory and remind omegas of their place under their heel.

Castiel was still watching Dean when he surfaced from his memories, intent and focused. Dean wanted to hide, bile rising in his throat as he realized they only had one option left.

__

“So we fuck sober,” he concluded, trying to do what Cas seemed so adept at and sounding neutral. Dean wasn’t a neutral person, though. Wherever Cas had learned to shut down his emotions, Dean had learned the opposite.

__

Castiel’s gaze wavered under the emotions Dean failed to repress.

__

“That would be the easiest way out of this mess.”

__

“We just give it to them,” Dean repeated, his fingers twitching with frustration at the thought.

__

Castiel wet his dry lips again. Dean couldn’t help but watch the movement, his tall, pink lips dry but still somehow alluring. No matter how he felt about the circumstances, Dean had to admit his partner was still pretty decent looking.

__

Dean had it way better than most other males in the war—as a male omega, he’d gotten laid plenty during the Great Thirst, which is what the alphas liked to call the war. Male omegas were infinitely less fertile than male alphas, as alpha females were with alpha males, though he still enjoyed the company of women. He’d slept almost exclusively with girl omegas during the war, though he’d topped a few other male omegas. He wasn’t much of a bottom—at all, really. The only time he’d had anything up his ass was that first terrible heat, and he’d sworn to himself that would never happen again.

__

Castiel rubbed a hand over his eyes, letting a tense sigh slip. “There’s one other option.”

__

“Yeah?” Dean perked up.

__

“But you’re going to have to trust me,” Castiel grumbled, refusing to meet his eyes, “which you don’t seem to be able to do.”

__

“At this point, I don’t trust you and I’m still going to end up pregnant. I’m willing to try anything.” Dean shrugged, though a thrill of hope thrummed through him. “Shoot.”

 

 

Cas smelled like horse, moth balls and old clothes, and alpha. Musky, hot, spicy alpha.

__

“Stop fidgeting,” he hissed in Dean’s ear, quietly so only Dean could hear. “Relax, Dean.”

__

“You relax,” Dean hissed back, flushing bright red. “I can feel your junk pressing into my ass.”

__

Castiel made a strangled grunting noise that might have been an expression of embarrassment, but Dean couldn’t tell from his vantage point.

__

“Shit, Cas. Seriously. Stop poking me.”

__

“I can’t help it,” Cas groaned, and Dean was sure that was embarrassment from the mighty, unflappable alpha soldier this time.

__

“What, it been a while since you got any?” Dean asked, mocking. He had to joke around because every instinct in his body was telling him to elbow the alpha in the stomach, run, and not look back.

__

“I was a high rank in the military. We didn’t get a lot of free time. We also just emerged from a war between the sexes, if you recall.”

__

“Uh-huh, sure. There’s alpha women, too, Cas… just sayin’,” Dean teased, willing to bet what little money he had that Castiel’s wooden flirting was responsible for his dry spell.

__

“You know as well as I do that alpha females are rare,” Cas ground out, sounding infinitely annoyed. Dean couldn’t help but grin.

__

Voices sounded from down the hall. They both fell silent immediately. Dean felt Cas tense against him before he relaxed.

__

Dean wished he had the alpha’s self control, especially when he felt Cas’s nose nuzzle the back of his neck, his hand possessively stroking over his stomach. Dean was as stiff as a board, despite his efforts to look natural.

__

“Dean,” Cas whispered, even quieter than before and far more urgent. Dean willed his muscles to unclench, and slowly but surely he managed it, melting into the warm, smooth, naked skin behind him.

__

This had better fucking work.

__

“Well, check out the lovebirds. Get Naomi.” Dean recognized that mocking voice. He’d heard it when their meals came.

__

“Alright, up. Up.” The sound of the door swinging open released Dean from Cas’s body, and he was on his feet, scrambling for his clothes.

__

The guard chuckled, his eyes skimming obviously over Dean’s body. Dean was hardly shy, but he sure as hell wasn’t a fan of douchey alphas looking at him like meat.

__

Dean pulled his pants on awkwardly as two guards in military uniform stood behind him, grabbing his shirt from the floor and watching as Cas did the same.

__

“Come on.” One of the guards behind Dean shoved at him with the butt of his gun, right at his lower back, and Dean decided against attempting to pull his shirt on. Instead he followed Cas and his posse of guards from the room.

__

The same dark stone as the cell he shared with Cas made up the hallway they marched through. Dean watched Cas’s movements carefully, and he had to hand it to him—the dude was good at playing it cool. He looked totally relaxed, like he was leading the guards and not the other way around. Of course, he was probably used to being in command.

__

Cas sure seemed to know where he was going. He’d assured Dean that all military buildings were laid out similarly and he could easily find his way out by reading the signs and using his familiarity with other military buildings.

__

For Dean, it was a risky trust exercise, but one he was willing to try since he had no other option. Dean had passed the point where he was willing to club Cas over the head and make a run for it at the first opportunity. The last few days of sharing a cell backed up Cas’s description of himself as noble and kind. Dean didn’t trust easily, especially lately, but he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

__

Dean noticed a sign above a doorway that looked like a simple graphic of a syringe. As they stepped through the doorway, the dark stone walls ended and Dean found himself surrounded by off-white linoleum. He reasoned they were in the hospital portion of the complex.

__

They were going to check and see if he’d quickened, likely. Dean had no idea how they expected to tell so quickly, under the assumption that Dean and Cas had finished mating very recently.

__

Still Cas walked on, keeping his head down and the tension from his shoulders.

Dean began to grow nervous. They passed several people who looked like medical personnel, wearing white coats and scrubs and bright blue hairnets. Doors opened to rooms with hospital beds, some of the patients chained to their beds, most unconscious.

It wasn’t until a branch in the hallway with several different graphics on its numerous signs, complete with long words Dean probably needed military training to understand, that Cas made his move. Ever so slightly, he moved his hand to his lower back and formed a peace sign.

__

Dean didn’t think, he just moved. He elbowed the guard behind him and to his right directly in the nose, twisting immediately to duck out of another’s grasping arms and deliver an elbow blow to that guard’s stomach.

__

“Hurry!” Cas was finished with his two guards as well, though Dean hadn’t seen him work his magic, and they were both in twitching heaps on the floor. Dean made a mental note not to mess with the ex-soldier; Dean considered himself fast and efficient, and Cas was somehow faster and more efficient.

Cas jogged down the hallway, and after a pause to admire Cas’s handiwork, Dean followed.

__

“Through here.” Cas had one of the guard’s identification tags in hand, and he pressed it to an automated lock by a set of doors.

__

The doors beeped, Cas pushed, and suddenly they were blinking in the bright sun, a field of dirt contained by a barbed fence an unwelcome sight for Dean’s eyes.

__

“Shit. How do we get out of here?” Dean asked, glancing behind him to double check that the guards were still recovering from their ambush.

__

“Follow me,” Cas said, his voice a low growl as he pulled his shirt on. Though it was obviously a little dirty, Dean realized Cas’s uniform looked exactly like those of the higher ranked military personnel who worked on this base, whom Dean had seen from the inside of his cell.

__

“You gonna be able to fool them?” Dean asked, still doubtful.

__

“Yes.” Cas replied, and Dean was almost reluctantly reassured by the certainty in that low alpha voice.

__

“Now comes the trust.” Cas turned, and Dean noticed for the first time that Cas had swiped a pair of handcuffs off the guards they took down. “We can walk out of here easily, but only if you agree to be my prisoner. Temporarily.”

__

“You remember to steal the keys to those things?” Dean eyed the metal handcuffs.

__

Cas loosened his fist and held his palm up, revealing the tiny metal key.

__

“Can I hold onto that?”

__

Dean saw the eye roll before Cas stifled it.

__

“Sure.” He reached over and dropped the key in Dean’s pants’ pocket. “Now will you hurry up? You did not immobilize your guards very effectively.”

__

“Hey!” Dean mumbled, instantly defensive. Then he glanced over and, sure enough, his guards were already stumbling to their feet while Castiel’s victims were still writhing on the ground. “What the did you do to them? You’ve got one hell of a Vulcan death grip.”

__

“Hurry!” Cas growled, his eyes narrowed in impatience. Dean jumped in spite of himself, holding his wrists out for Cas to chain. Dean prayed Cas would hold up his word as the clasps locked in place. 

__

Castiel jogged to the nearby edge of the building, and Dean followed his lead. As they rounded the corner to the front of the building, Cas slowed to a brisk walk. Other soldiers, the alpha crest of a red lion blazing on their chests, walked the grounds on that side of the building, stiff and formal even in their steps. Dean spotted a gate with a guard post and two straight-backed soldiers.

__

“Okay.” Cas spoke quickly and quietly. Dean walked with his head down like a submissive omega prisoner. “It’ll look strange if we leave the base on foot, so we need to steal one of those canvassed jeeps. You see them?”

__

“Sure,” Dean muttered, lifting his head the minimal amount. Cas had walked him through all this before they started their plan, but it was soothing to hear him repeat it.

__

Dean was on the run for months, but he’d mostly successfully avoided the alpha army except for a few skirmishes in the omega army and the final showdown when he was caught. Castiel clearly had more experience, and more calm, with these sort of situations.

__

“Keep your head down,” Castiel grit out before Dean realized he was looking around too much. Dean forced himself back into his submissive posture, biting off his instant smart-ass remark.

__

Cas directed him into the passenger seat of the car with smooth, forceful jerks to the back of his neck. He locked Dean’s handcuffs to the handle of the door and clapped his feet in an extra set of chains built into the jeep floor.

__

“This really necessary?” Dean hissed.

__

“It’ll look suspicious if I don’t,” Cas answered before ducking out of the car and out of sight.

__

Dean panicked as the seconds ticked by and Cas didn’t return. Was he seriously going to leave Dean here? Of course he was. Why the fuck had Dean trusted him in the first place? Dean was extra baggage and without him Cas could stroll right out the front gate and no one would suspect otherwise.

__

Dean, however, was going to get caught. They would force him into heat for his insubordination and pair him with another asshole to breed with. Dean groaned. He hated himself for making the same dumbass, gullible mistake that got him into this shit in the first place.

__

_Okay. Okay, moment over_.

 

He had the key in his pocket, he just had to figure out how to get to it. How the fuck was he going to get to it with his hands and feet locked to the car?

__

“I think your ineffectively disabled guards just rounded the corner over there,” Castiel said. He surprised Dean, slamming the driver’s side door.

__

Dean gaped at him as he started the car and checked the mirrors for obstacles. “Where the fuck…?”

__

Cas squinted at him in confusion as he pulled out from the line of jeeps. “I had to convince them it was an emergency transfer and that’s why my name wasn’t on the clearance list for the key to this hunk of metal. Sorry for the wait.”

__

Dean was still gaping at him when he pulled up to the gate.

__

“Dean, for god’s sake, please remember you are a prisoner and try to look more docile,” he growled. Cas shot him a glare and Dean ducked his head down as they pulled up to the gate, still feeling dazed.

__

“I hate this car,” he mumbled to himself before turning his attention to the man in the booth.

“Emergency transfer of a prisoner,” Castiel explained after spouting off some identification mumbo jumbo. The guard peered inside, squinted at Dean, and grimaced. Dean’s stomach sank as he realized he recognized him.

__

“I helped take that one down. Where’s your backup? No disrespect sir, but he’s a biter; nicked me with his teeth.” The soldier held up a bandaged hand and glared at Dean.

__

_Whoops_.

__

“We’re shorthanded today and they need him gone now. I can handle him, I assure you colonel,” Castiel answered, briskly.

__

The guard looked at Castiel curiously. “We have hands to spare, sir,” he said slowly, looking between Dean and Cas.  

__

Castiel was dead quiet for a moment, and Dean wondered what was going through his head. In the Omega Army, if an officer of a higher rank gave an order, it was obeyed without question. That didn’t seem to be the case in the Alpha Army.

__

“I’ll take them if you can muster them in under a minute. We have to leave now,” Castiel relented, and Dean managed to shoot him a what-the-fuck-are-you-thinking look before two soldiers piled in the back of the jeep and the gates opened for Castiel to drive through. Castiel threw him a stiff but confident wink and Dean’s heart calmed somewhat.

__

The soldiers sat at the ready, guns cocked and chins high, and Dean wondered how and when Castiel planned to get rid of them. Luckily, they sat in silence, so Dean was left to panic in quiet with no distractions.

__

Dean tried to communicate with Cas through expressions, but Cas’s face was a blank sheet and he kept his eyes on the road.

__

So Dean waited, unable to do anything other than that. He would have to pull off some miraculous Houdini shit to get out of his handcuffs, and he’d left his magic box back at the omega rebel camps.

__

Field turned to forest around them before Cas spoke.

__

“Shit,” Cas muttered under his breath, “tire light.”

__

Dean marveled at the fact that this hunk of intimidation even had a tire warning light. He also felt a spark of grudging respect for his co-conspirator.

__

Cas pulled the jeep over to the side of the road, checking the road behind him.

“You - on me.” Cas looked in the rear view mirror, his icy eyes pinning one of the soldiers. “You - watch him.” He jerked his head in Dean’s direction as he popped his door. The soldier closest to Cas opened his door too and piled out after Cas. Dean waited quietly. He watched the road, expecting trucks to come speeding after them at any second.

__

Faster than Dean could follow, Cas’s hand flung the remaining soldier’s door open and rammed the soldier’s head into Dean’s seat.

__

Dean cursed, jumping in his restraints. “Cas, where did you learn that ninja shit?”

__

“Dean.” Something in Cas’s voice prompted Dean to find his eyes in the mirror. Cool, calm, collected Cas looked panicked. “Dean, he stuck me.”

__

Cas rushed to his door, flinging it open in alarm. Dean hadn’t known Castiel very long but the panic was new.

__

“Cas, slow down. What do you mean he stuck you?” he asked, trying to muster enough calm for the two of them.

__

Cas thrust his hand down Dean’s pant pocket with speed that made Dean jump again. He was about to complain that Cas definitely brushed up against his junk, but then the alpha withdrew his hand just as quickly and fumbled to fit the key in Dean’s handcuffs.

__

“He stuck me with heat serum, Dean. They started packing these things a few months ago, even the foot soldiers, and they’re...nasty.” Cas lifted the smashed syringe, outfitted in metal and a quick draw handle like the weapon it was. “Rut hits you in minutes and then…” Castiel finished with the foot cuffs and stepped away from Dean as his eyes scanned the quiet woods, lingering on the road they’d left behind.

__

“Go. You have to leave me. I’ll hit my rut in moments, and then I’ll have no control over myself. I’ll either be completely incapacitated, and when these soldiers wake up I’ll be at their mercy, or I’ll be in a rage, depending on how much he managed to stick me with. Go now. Run.”

__

Of all the things Dean had prepared himself for, Cas going all martyr on him was not one. “How did he even touch you? I swear you’re like yoda level of badassery,” Dean marveled.

__

“I miscalculated. He caught on before I thought he would, managed to hit me with the syringe while I was bending over to fake a tire check. Goddamn - should have just taken him out sooner, but I didn’t want to risk the other guard seeing and shooting you. Goddamn it!” Cas snarled, and Dean backed up into the side of the jeep as he noticed a slight flare of gold in Cas’s irises, the first sign of an alpha in a rut.

__

Dean had seen alphas who weren’t his family members in ruts from a distance, but never up close. Omegas were warned to stay away from rutting alphas they weren’t related to, and after witnessing his father and brother’s ruts, Dean took that advice to heart. Alphas liked to fight, set up rut duels and synchronize their ruts so they could wrestle, brutal and bloody in the dirt outside the grungier dive bars and gnarly backwoods rodeo mats.

__

Dean liked dive bars, but he disliked the alpha duels he occasionally stumbled onto. He tried to avoid them whenever possible, but rut wrestling was outlawed so people didn’t exactly broadcast the events; they just popped up from time to time, and people seemed to mysteriously know where and when to go to catch the vicious show of alphas tearing muscle and skin from one another with bare hands and bared fangs.

__

Of course, the rage and power came in the second stage of a rut, when alpha hormones were at their second highest levels, but the first stage of lower hormone levels was much more docile and, well, pathetic. Most alphas passed out for a few days.

__

“Come with me,” Dean decided in a split second, simultaneously hating himself for his weakness but unable to deny his stronger instinct of loyalty.

__

“No, Dean.” Cas shook his head. His breath was coming quicker now. “No, you should not be with me like this. I can’t be around omegas, especially not you.”

__

“I’m not leaving you.” Dean had made up his mind, and his conviction was as strong as it was sudden.

__

“Dean,” Cas growled, his voice a deep gravel as he leveled him with a fierce glare. “Leave. Before I make you--”

__

“No, Cas,” Dean interrupted. “You could have left me chained in that car, you could have gotten away far easier and this never would have happened to you, but you didn’t. You saved me from that place, and I’m not going to abandon you the first opportunity I get.”

__

“This is not an opportunity to abandon me!” Cas yelled, eyes darting around frantically as his breathing sped up even further, and Dean saw an all-out burst of gold light up Cas’s sky blue irises. “I am ordering you to go before I lose control of myself. Do you understand that?”

__

“You said yourself, you were likely hit with just enough to put you out—“

__

“Or he hit me with enough to send me into a rage, in which I’ll escape easily enough without putting you in danger from just being around me. Either way I’m a liability; I’ll only slow you down and make it easier for them to catch you.” Dean saw his nostrils flare and his muscles tense briefly, flexing and rippling under his officer jacket. Dean swallowed, his mouth going dry.

__

“You’re fast as fuck, Cas; no way did he manage to shoot you that full. No, you’re going to pass out. You’re coming with me.”

__

Cas let an animalistic growl loose, his eyes glowing gold as Dean stared him down with a fierce glare of his own.

__

“You come with me now or I don’t leave and we both get caught.” Dean shrugged, hopping up on the hood of the jeep and leaning back, nonchalant.

__

“Dean,” Cas snarled, his lip curling as he dropped to one knee.

__

“See? You’re going to pass out, I promise you that. You’re in the first stage. Stop arguing and run so we can get far enough from this obvious blood bath for you to pass out safely.” Dean jumped off the hood of the car and ran over to Cas’s side, lifting the soldier by wedging an arm under his shoulder.

__

Cas panted heavily as he rose unsteadily to his feet, shooting Dean one last glare before Dean tugged him into a slow jog. They just needed to get far enough, maybe half a mile, to give the alphas some mystery area to cover and buy themselves time. Dean needed to find a decent natural hiding spot, as they didn’t have the time for Dean to dig a hole big enough for the two of them.

__

As they ran, Dean checked behind him, still waiting for the alpha backup to arrive. Cas leaned on him more as time wore on, his breath coming in quick, shallow pants.

__

“Dean,” Cas groaned, stumbling over a branch and sprawling out on the leafy forest floor. Dean cursed under his breath, checking behind them again but finding nothing, before he knelt to pull Cas back up to his knees. “Dean, I’m not going to last much longer.”

__

“You alphas are seriously…” Dean shook his head, too frustrated to even speak. “How did you win the war? How?” Dean marveled, rolling his eyes as he lifted Cas from the ground with no small effort. “Your ruts are pathetic; you just nap for days, and then you wrestle each other bloody over nothing, and then…”

__

“And then we fuck whatever our knot will fit in?” Cas finished for him, flashing him a tired but snarky smile.

__

“Yeah, and then you sleep for a couple more days, just to finish off the giant tantrum. Jesus, just like teenagers,” Dean grumbled.

__

In his darker hours, when he’d first seen alphas tearing at each other in the fenced-in mud holes that passed for arenas in the shadier parts of Kansas, the gold of their eyes bright and their muscles tight with inhuman strength, he’d wished he’d been born an alpha. There was something so raw and powerful about the brawling alphas, something indescribably desirable, though he would never admit to that out loud.

__

But then came his biyearly reminder of the reality of ruts, when his brother and father slept for days and regressed into giant infants. He had to bring them every meal on a tray, and buckets of water to towel off with when they couldn’t even walk to the shower. It was then that he appreciated his omega status. As an omega he had no insane desire to ride out his heats—Dean was happy taking his suppressants—whereas nearly every alpha he knew had this inexplicable, compulsive need to experience each and every rut. It might have had something to do with the fact that their ruts didn’t burn like a bitch, and they didn’t leave alphas fucking their own ass raw with a toy bigger than their fist.

__

“Dean, I’m done. I’m done.” Castiel collapsed against him, his breath coming in short, labored spurts, his eyes a permanent dusty yellow. Dean sighed, looking around them, hoping, wishing desperately—

__

__

_Giant rock_.

__

_Thank_   _fuck_.

__

“You are so in luck, buddy. That’s a rock made for hiding if I ever saw one. Just… here.” Dean pulled Cas’s arms up and around his shoulders, grunting as he lifted off the ground and dragged Cas up by his wrists. “Just a few more steps. Come on.”

__

“Strong… for an omega…” Cas mumbled against his shoulder.

__

“Whoever said alphas are stronger than omegas was dead wrong. What sexist bullshit…” Dean grumbled, dumping Cas a little harder than necessary on the ground immediately behind the boulder.

__

Cas grunted, but otherwise seemed to have no energy to move, or even speak. He just lay there, completely still, and Dean wondered briefly if he was already out cold.

__

“Cas?”

__

“Mmmpphhh.”

__

“I’m gonna cover you in leaves. Don’t move. Think you can manage that?” Dean asked, more for his own amusement than for an actual response. Cas was obviously not going anywhere for a while.

__

“Mmm.”

__

“Alright. Stay put. Definitely don’t move.”

__

“Dean?”

__

“Yeah?”

__

“Will you shut up?”

__

“Probably not.” Dean grinned. “You’re at my mercy now, alpha.”

 

 


	2. The Woods

Cas slept for two days. Dean expected it; he’d seen his brother through at least seven of his ruts and he’d cared for his father through double that after his mother passed away. He had the tempo down, at this point—two days of napping, about a six hour period of insane temper and violent outbursts (where Dean had learned very quickly to get the hell out of the house), then a day or two where they would lock themselves inside their room “fucking anything their knot would fit in”, as Cas put it. Dean also liked to stay far away from the house for that stage when he could. It made the house stink of musk and sex. They followed up marathon sex with another two days of sleeping.

Dean was expecting it when Cas roused himself from the covering of leaves on about noon of the second day, almost exactly forty eight hours since the soldier hit him with the shot. What he didn’t expect was the twin orbits of feral gold that pinned him in place as Cas twisted to find him, sniffing the air like a wolf tasting for prey.

“Whoah, what… I thought your rut would die off after the first stage. You’re in the second stage.”

“It would appear so,” Castiel agreed, hauling himself into a sitting position and surveying the woods around them with far more calm than Dean had seen an alpha in the second stage exhibit.

“Why? You should be over it by now, right? The dosage?” Dean asked.

“I suspect the hormones triggered my natural rut to come early. It was due in a month anyway.” Cas sighed, leaning his head back against the rock. “Synthetic heat serum is how alphas time their ruts so they can duel.”

“Cas, I don’t know how long we can stay here. I’m surprised no one’s come to comb through the woods for us yet. I was expecting attack dogs and foot soldiers crawling everywhere. It’s just been dead quiet. Like you, actually,” Dean mused, trying not to show how greatly dismayed he was that he would now have to put up with yet another long-ass rut, intentional or not.

“That is strange. I too expected them to send cars after us almost immediately, but none came. The road was quiet.” Castiel squinted at him, tilting his head so Dean could see the large vein in his neck throb unnaturally. “I wonder why they let us go without a chase?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Dean muttered, stoking the fire he’d made to roast the squirrel he caught for lunch. Seeing Cas like this was somehow more unsettling than seeing Sam or Dad wild, though Dean didn’t know exactly why. He felt queasy, on edge, just waiting for the alpha to start yelling over something stupid, or break a thick tree branch over his knee just to show he could.

“This is very impressive.” Cas squatted beside Dean and his makeshift fire pit. “Did you learn to make this in the Omega Army?” Castiel asked. Dean leaned away from him, avoiding his bright yellow eyes. It had only taken one stray fist from his brother during a rut rage, one he’d been standing too close to but that had not been aimed at him thankfully, to learn his lesson. If Sam couldn’t keep his cool during this stage of the rut, no one could.

“Yeah... Look, there’s plenty of deer around here so why don’t you go kill some for us or something. Get all that rut rage out on something that’s not, well, me,” he commented. Dean scooted farther away from Castiel, watching the alpha out of the corner of his eye but careful not to make eye contact. Though he had no doubt that the alpha could beat the shit out of him quicker than he could blink, close or not, Dean really hoped he wouldn’t, and he didn’t want to give him any excuses to start something.

Castiel rose smoothly, stretching his arms above his head in a subtle display of dominance. His yellow eyes were trained on Dean. Dean could feel them in the prickling of his neck, though he was still studiously avoiding them and stoking the fire with a small branch. He wished Cas would find something else to stare at; his stomach was squirming with unease.

“Alright.”

Dean listened to the alpha’s shoes crunch in the leaves as he left, and he definitely breathed easier when silence echoed in the trees.

Dean had slept only lightly, hypersensitive to any noise as he tried to keep a lookout for alpha soldiers in Cas’s incapacitated state. He figured then was as good a time as any to catch some shuteye in the alpha’s absence.

He covered himself in leaves as best he could in Cas’s secure resting place beneath the rock. He’d slept next to Cas the last two nights, trying to hide himself from alphas, though he doubted Cas had been conscious enough to know just how close they’d slept in the night. Dean was cold, and he took advantage of the alpha’s elevated rut temperature and near comatose state. Free heater, why not use it?

Castiel was back when Dean opened his eyes, sitting yoga style on the ground a few feet from him, eyes closed, palms up, a slaughtered deer by Dean’s makeshift fire pit.

“How long was I out?” Dean asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The sun was setting, a dim blue light the only remaining illumination in the woods.

“Almost eight hours,” Cas answered, soft and quiet.

“Shit.” Dean sat up, leaves falling off his body as he did. “So you’re over the whole beat-up-anything-that-moves attitude?”

“Indeed.”

Well, that only left the fuck-anything-that-moves part of the rut. Dean’s senses sharpened as a jolt of adrenaline shot through him. He considered himself a modern omega, a proud rebel who didn’t bend under the yoke of alpha oppression, but he’d never wanted to press the stigma that good omegas shouldn’t spend time around unrelated alphas in heat. It just sounded plain dangerous.

“What are you doing?” Dean asked suspiciously, taking in Cas’s statue pose again and trying to figure the complex alpha out.

“I’m meditating,” Cas replied, again so soft that Dean found himself leaning in to hear him.

“You’re… meditating,” Dean repeated, skeptical.

“There is nothing else to be done,” Castiel replied. Dean realized what he was really saying: nothing to fuck.  

“Oh.” Dean felt simultaneously bad for the guy and nervous at the prospect. Cas had two days of horniness to look forward to, and Dean highly doubted meditation was going to cover it. Considering the mangled state of the deer Cas left by the fire pit, Cas was feeling this rut.

Cas didn’t say much of anything after that, his steady breathing a tempo for Dean to listen to as he busied himself cooking them dinner.

“You want me to, uh, give you some time to yourself?” Dean asked eventually, as soon as the deer was finished cooking and the fire burning itself out into ashes. He wanted Cas to have enough to eat if he left him alone for more than a day.

“Actually, I’d prefer you stay close, if you don’t mind. Your scent helps.”

“My scent?”

“You smell like slick.”

“What?” Dean blanched at Cas’s blunt words. _Rude_.

“I don’t mean you smell like you’re attracted to me, merely that you have not washed since our imprisonment and I can smell the natural slick of a few days worth of activity.” Castiel inhaled deeply and Dean felt all the blood drain from his face. “It’s intoxicating, and very helpful for keeping my urges at bay.”

Dean’s lips curled in a grimace even as his heart hammered in his chest. Cas was… okay, he was a good guy. Dean was pretty convinced of that by now, but he’d known him for less than two weeks and he’d seen him take out other alphas in five seconds flat. It was definitely alarming that Cas found his slick smell "intoxicating". As his family members, neither Sam nor Dad had found Dean’s smell alluring, and on several occasions Sam had described it as "annoying" in the sex-up-everything part of his rut. John hadn’t been too keen on Dean sticking around the house during that stage of his rut, though Dean thought that was probably motivated by other, more obvious reasons.

“So you want me to stay nearby?”

“Yes.” Cas nodded slowly, his breathing still even and slow.

“Am I safe to sleep? Be honest.”

“You just finished sleeping,” Cas answered, a tinge of irritation to his tone.

“You’ve got all this fun rutting to work out, but I’m bored stiff. I’d rather catch more shut eye if you’re just going to sit there sniffing me.” Dean shrugged.

“You think this is fun?” Cas asked, his voice tight. Dean watched his shoulders tense before his breathing evened out again.

“There must be some reason so many alphas choose to ride out their ruts when they could easily take suppressant pills like omegas do,” Dean reasoned slowly, that worming unease returning to his stomach.

Cas moved for the first time since Dean had woken up, twisting his neck to look Dean up slowly, his eyes sticking on Dean’s groin before they tracked up to his eyes. Dean flushed under the attention and shifted to close his legs.

“Under normal circumstances, with toys or a partner, this is definitely the most enjoyable part of the rut, and why I imagine most alphas choose to endure it. Unfortunately, I have neither. I don’t suppose you know what that feels like, and I can’t explain it to you. I imagine it’s similar to what an omega feels in heat.”

Dean grimaced at that. “Unbearable burning?” He asked.

“No,” Castiel replied.

“Then it’s nothing like it.”

“I  _want_ , Dean. I  _want_. Badly.” Cas’s breath kicked up and Dean watched his body tense again until he got it under control.

“Okay,” Dean said, softening his voice, a dangerous pang of sympathy shooting through him. “Okay, I won’t tease you about it. I’m sorry.”

“I would appreciate that,” Castiel answered.

Dean sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before he figured he might as well repeat his question since Cas never answered him.

“So… can I sleep, or…?”

“If you must,” Cas replied with a huff of annoyance.

Dean had no clue why he was so irritated that Dean wanted to sleep, but he decided he didn’t care too much. He’d forgotten how annoying it was to sit through someone else’s rut. Dean wanted to move and get away from that awful base, but Cas was clearly in no condition to travel and still had roughly four days left until he was fit to do so again.

Dean covered himself over in leaves and lay back down next to the rock. “You can keep watch, right?” Dean mumbled, not worrying that Cas didn’t answer him as he fell into a deep sleep.  

 

 

 

Sure enough, Dean woke in the night to a pair of shining yellow orbs that unnerved him to his core. Dean gasped and Cas jumped.

“Why are you staring at me? Fuckin’ creepy as hell,” Dean panted, running a hand over his eyes as he emerged slowly from sleep and into reality.

“I wasn’t.” Cas’s voice came in the dark just as the yellow orbs darted away.

“You didn’t sleep,” Dean surmised. He needed water, bad. His mouth was so dry, he might as well have slept in a sauna. His hands were numb from the cool air though, oddly.

“No.”

Dean’s eyes adjusted to the dark and he made out Cas’s body, sitting exactly as he was when Dean fell asleep, in the same spot. Dean could hear his breathing still, but it wasn’t calm and even anymore; it was labored and pained.

Dean did not feel sorry for him. Nope. No, he did not.

“You can’t sleep?”

“No.”

“Did you try?”

“I can’t.”

Dean sighed, rubbing at his eyes with his hand once more. He could hear Cas’s breathing in silence, fast and shallow.

“Did you try spanking the monkey, man?”

Cas grunted, then left a long pause before he answered, “I don’t… have all the things I need…”

Dean groaned and stared at him, but the humiliation he found in Cas’s face eventually tipped him into leaving the subject alone.

“You ever gone through this with a partner?” he asked instead.

Those yellow orbs were back on him again, wide and intent.

“Yes.”

Dean licked his cracked lips. He could taste the alpha in the air; it was hot and spicy, and it smelled familiar, completely different from Sam or Dad’s musk. It smelled like his first heat, minus the stink of manure and hay. It smelled like that mystery jar John set by him before he left Deanto fuck himself raw, slathering it over the fake knot and shoving it in as far as it would go.

His pants were wet.

“What’s it like?” Dean asked, leaning back against the rock. Despite himself, he met those gold eyes; they were flashing from some invisible light source in the night.

“It’s… hot… and… and intense...” Cas’s voice sounded fucked out. Dean wondered if Cas needed some sort of real or synthetic slick to satisfy the chemistry of his body, as Dean had needed from that rut... whatever it was, in his heat.

“Omega?” Dean asked. He licked his lips again, but it was no use. Every ounce of liquid in his body was pooled in his underwear, the haze of alpha smell too much for Dean’s body, apparently.

“Once.”

“Was it good?” Dean asked breathlessly.

“God, yes. Feels so good, so amazing,” Cas whispered in a hungry whimper.

Dean let a shaky breath go.

“C’mere.” Dean beckoned, pushing leaves off his lap and propping himself up more against the rock.

Leaves cracked as Cas crawled to him. Dean heard how ragged his breathing was when he came to rest a foot from him, eyes wide and glowing in the dark.

“C’mere, Cas. Come,” Dean whispered, and then Cas’s hand slid over his thighs, fingers trembling. Dean reached for him to find the back of his damp neck, his skin sweltering against Dean’s chilled palm. Dean searched until his mouth found Cas’s, coaxing a soft moan from the alpha’s lovely throat as he licked into him and the alpha opened up for him.

Wet; Dean was so wet everywhere now, Cas wetting his dry mouth and sending another rush of slick to soak his pants with his touch.

“Dean,” Cas whimpered, clutching at Dean’s shoulders as Dean reached lower, fitting his hand into Cas’s pants to find his straining, rock hard erection.

“ _Dean_ ,” Cas moaned, his teeth grazing Dean’s ear as Dean turned from the heat of Cas’s skin and Cas chased him. He rubbed his groin into Dean’s cupped hand, moaned into Dean’s shoulder, and bit at the skin there as he clung to him.

“I got you,” Dean whispered, breathless under the immovable grip of the alpha.

“You… I…need your slick…” Cas pulled Dean onto his lap in one swift, sure movement, surprising Dean with the force and strength behind the action. He yelped as his legs spread around the alpha, Cas’s substantial erection pressing into his own while desperate hands gripped at Dean’s ass, kneading the muscle and opening his cheeks as far as they would go.

“Aaaaahhhhhh…” Cas moaned, inhaling deeply and nuzzling at Dean’s neck.

“F-fuck,” Dean mumbled. With every partner he’d had before, man or woman, he’d been the stronger of the two; he’d done the grabbing, the pulling, the lifting. Cas was treating him like a rag doll, locking Dean tight against his chest with one possessive arm while the other hand sank into his pants, painting his perineum with his own slick and rubbing it in like he thought he could get him wetter than he already was.

“No. Cas. Please, no—“ Dean struggled to explain himself, explain the permanent embargo on his ass, squirming against Cas to get free, but it was no use—Cas’s finger dipped into his hole and a primal growl echoed through the forest. Cas bit down on Dean’s neck and sent a jolt shock and wet all through him.

“Slick. Need it,” Cas pleaded against his neck, lapping at the bite mark Dean was sure he’d left just above his pulse point. Dean couldn’t think straight, couldn’t hear past the sensation of Cas’s finger wiggling inside of him, pressing and prodding until Dean shivered and moaned in his arms.

“Yeah,” Cas whispered, his hot breath on Dean’s ear. “Yeah, you like that, right? My omega.”

“No—I’m not your—” but Dean lost his words in another moan as Cas pressed again and Dean was goneto a pulse of pleasure, one he was unfamiliar with, one that intensified as Cas rolled his hips, rubbing their dicks against each other through the fabric of their clothes. Dean was still spread on his lap like a girl, open for Cas’s prodding fingers and unable to bring himself to fight against the position.

“Mine. You are  _mine._ I can smell it. I smell how much you want it, ” Cas growled, fisting a hand in Dean’s hair and forcing his head back so he could whisper against his throat, running his nose along Dean’s Adams apple, up to the curl of his hair against his ears. “Get on your knees. I’m going to claim you now.”

“No.” Dean pulled away, shoving against Cas’s solid chest until the alpha relented, a snarl on his lips as his gold eyes narrowed. He tightened the fist in Dean’s hair, sending another humiliating wave of slick down between Dean’s legs along with a jolt of pain.

“You want it,” Cas insisted.

“I’m not getting pregnant.” Dean shoved at him again, and Cas let him fall off his lap this time.

“No. Not pregnant,” Cas agreed, crawling after him, chasing him up against the rock and trapping him between his arms. When he inhaled, deep and long, Dean whimpered. Yet another wave of slick poured out of him and he opened his legs wider in an unconscious reaction. Cas moaned loudly as the fresh slick scent hit them both, resting his forehead against Dean’s shoulder and panting hard.

“Whatever you want, Dean. I’ll do whatever you want,” he pleaded. Dean's heart tugged again at how pathetic and agonized he seemed.

“Come here.” He closed his eyes, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat. He pushed his hand out in the dark, feeling along Cas’s thigh until he found his throbbing cock.

Castiel crowded closer, pressing his hips forward in eager circles against Dean’s cupped hand. Dean was panting too, though Cas far outpaced him. Dean closed his eyes to the rock of Cas’s hips and the slide of his cock in his hand. The knowledge of being bodily trapped by the alpha was such a turn on, somehow, but one Dean didn’t understand. Usually he hated being caged in.

There was a lot about this that was unusual, though.

He looked up when he heard the sucking noise, confused, to find Cas with the fingers he’d pressed inside of Dean pushed into the alpha’s mouth, his eyes closed as a moan of pleasure vibrated through his chest.

“Tastes so good, Dean. So good. My omega.”

“Not—not yours. I’m not yours.”

“You’re lying to me,” he growled. The gold of his eyes flashed in the dark, and his wet hand came down to fist in Dean’s hair and keep him from looking away, “You knew it since you saw me in that cell. You wanted me then, just as I wanted you. Wanted you so bad. You’re a spitfire, though. You’re impossible to touch,” Cas let his fingers unknot and slide down around Dean’s jawline in a soft caress, “but I am touching you now.”

Cas grunted, shoving harder at Dean’s hand, grinding. Cas pressed his chest forward until Dean was truly trapped, one cheek hard against cold stone and the other against warmth that was equally solid. Still, Dean squeezed at Cas’s erection, milking him with everything he had.

“Yes,” Cas hissed. “Submit to me, Dean. You’re mine. Admit it.”

“Nhhhh…” Dean was surprised to hear the whining sound that came from his own throat, the one he’d used and owned for all twenty six years of his life and never once heard anything like that come out of it.

Suddenly Cas backed off, settling down on his knees, gently turning Dean’s face to him. He tugged him back up on his lap easily, and Dean forgot to fight as Cas immediately slipped two fingers up Dean’s ass, spreading him with the grip of his other hand.

“So wet for me. I could smell it all night, getting stronger,” Cas whispered, squeezing and lifting Dean even closer as he pushed his fingers in, all the way to the last knuckle. “You can take more. Can you take a knot up there?”

“Not gettin’ pregnant, told you,” Dean huffed. But he knew the way he wrapped his arms around Cas’s neck was answer enough, and he couldn’t stop himself grinding against Cas’s hard, thick cock as he fingered him. He felt alive, every nerve in his body sparking at Cas’s touch.  

“No. No, later. I’ll claim you later, my omega,” Cas stroked over his cheek, angling his face back. Dean thought he was going to bite him again, but then he said, breathless, “Suck.”

“What?” A bittersweet, tangy taste coated his tongue as Cas thrust the fingers from his ass as deep into his mouth as he could get them.

“Mmmmgh!” Dean protested, his eyes widening in shock. He’d never tasted himself, never had the urge. Sounded kind of gross before, but now it sent another wave of slick down to soak him more.

“Isn’t it good?” Cas asked, painting Dean’s lips with what was leftover when he pulled out. Dean closed his eyes, chasing the finger with his tongue as Cas drew it back. “Like that? Want more?” Cas purred, pressing their groins together possessively with his other hand.

Dean was shaking, so astounded by his own reaction that he couldn’t figure out if he wanted to nod his head emphatically or shout out a  _fuck you_  and  _fuck this_  and _fuck me for letting this happen._  He would never be the same again, not after giving in so completely to another’s control, an  _alpha’s_  control.

Cas pressed two fingers back to his mouth, feeding him more of his own slick.

“Mmmm,” Cas agreed with a lazy, cocky smile.

Dean couldn’t look away from the Alpha’s mouth, wondering if he would kiss him again, if the taste of his own slick would tangle on their tongues. “Get your hand wet with it. Want to feel it on my cock.”

Dean stared at him, frozen at the request.

“Get it wet for me Dean.” Cas closed his eyes, that knowing smile widening on his lips. “Treat me to your slick.”

Dean reached behind himself and, with shaking hands, coated his hand in slick - tangy, bittersweet slick that he could still taste on his tongue.

“Now jerk me off. Slow, make it last.”

“Thought you weren’t getting laid because you were bad in the sack. Shit, Cas, I was so wrong. You can sweet talk a guy out of his own shirt.”

“Can I talk you out of those pants?” Cas chuckled against his ear, his skin burning Dean where they brushed against each other.

“Not gettin’ knocked up—“

“Just want to feel you, cock to cock. I’ll mount you later, when we have protection. I promise. You won’t have to wait too long. Know how much you want it. I can smell it.” Cas bit at the shell of his ear, squeezing him closer in his surprisingly strong arms.

“I—” But Dean couldn’t argue with that, his arousal was everywhere. Everything smelled like sex.

He did want it. He wanted it bad, more than he’d ever wanted… anything.

And that was fucking terrifying.

 

 

 

They continued until morning, Cas cooing hot smut into his ears and coaxing at least three orgasms out of Dean: one by hand, one with his mouth to Dean’s ass, and one from rubbing furiously against one another. It could have been more. Things got kind of hazy as morning came and Cas rocked his cock against Dean for the fourth time, leaving bite marks all over his neck and lapping at the bruises. Dean passed out with Cas still rutting against him, between his cheeks.

The sun burned too brightly and birds tweeted angrily at them. Dean woke up uncomfortable; sleeping naked in the woods, even on a pile of their clothes, was pokey. He opened his eyes to Cas asleep on his chest, their stomachs plastered together with more semen than he’d ever seen.

“Ngh,” Cas protested as Dean rolled him to the side and set about pulling his clothes on.

“Shit.” Dean stared down at the white crusty mess on his chest. “How am I going to get this off?”

“There’s a stream, three miles that way. Pull your pants on and we’ll walk.” Cas yawned, pushing himself up on his knees and surveying the mess on Dean seriously.

“Three miles?” Dean groaned. He wanted this off of him now.

“No whining.” Cas quirked a smile, carding a hand fondly through Dean’s hair. Dean jumped at the contact. Somehow, even though they’d been fucking all night, he didn’t expect Cas to act affectionate toward him. He was still in his rut, though, so Dean supposed those horny feelings were spilling over into tender feelings that would wear off when the rut did. Dean decided to let it go.

“How can you even produce this much semen?” Dean wondered, staring down at his chest as they walked.

“Come on, Dean. You sucked me last night. You know I’m very sizable.”

“Alright, so you’re huge,” Dean grumbled, painfully aware of the size difference between them and feeling inadequate in that department for the first time since he could remember. “Still, this is a fucking trainload.”

Cas chuckled but didn’t answer.

Dean fell to his knees by the stream when they got there. He sank his head underwater and drank until he emerged gasping for breath. Cas’s rut had dehydrated him badly. His body seemed to literally suck all the water out of its normal places in order to make more slick than Dean had made in the entirety of his life.

Dean ducked his head underwater and drank again. The water felt cool and nice, rushing around his face. Cas was grinning at him in amusement when Dean emerged again, gasping.

“Oh, shut up. You have no idea.” Dean rolled his eyes, pushing his hair from his forehead as he stripped off his pants and got to work rubbing the considerable load of semen off his chest.

“I hate that you’re washing that off.” Cas frowned, twisting his jacket and releasing a splash of water.

“What, you want me to wear it all day? I’ve got a newsflash for you, buddy: ain’t happenin’.” Dean grimaced, scrubbing at a particularly crusty part.

“It’s my mark. You smell like me now.” Cas caught Dean’s chin, pulling his eyes up to meet his yellow ones. “I love that you smell like me,” he said softly, staring at Dean’s lips.

Dean didn’t really know how to respond to all this possessive talk Cas was spouting. He was pretty sure Cas would get over it when the rut was gone, but he wasn’t completely sure and that made him nervous.

“Look,” Dean started, lifting his chin from Cas’s hand, “you’ve gotta quit with that—”

“Have you ever taken a knot in your mouth?” Cas interrupted him. Dean snapped his head around in surprise, shuddering at his words.

Cas was staring at his lips with open lust. His chest rose with a deep, longing breath.

_Stupid rut brain and it's stupid one track._

“No,” he answered after a moment.

“Will you try it for me?”

 _For me_. Dean really had to put a stop to that soon.

But not now. There was a finger fucking slowly in and out of his mouth now, and Dean didn’t want to remove it. He was caught in Cas’s gold eyes and he could not make himself argue when he was this turned on, just as he couldn’t make himself argue last night.

Instead, he dropped to his knees in the stream, splashing water everywhere.

Cas washed for him when he had his head underwater, drinking as much as he could fit in his stomach. He tasted clean, almost sweet.

“Be careful,” Cas said softly, fisting a hand in Dean’s hair and watching him with rapture, “When I come, make sure I’m not too deep. I don’t want to choke you.”

Dean popped off.

“Choke me? Shit, this sounds dangerous.”

Cas coaxed him back into a sucking motion.

“I’ve done it before, don’t worry.” Cas stroked his hair, and Dean had to admit it felt nice. He hated himself for it, but he liked to be petted like that.

Dean closed his eyes so he didn’t have to meet Cas’s, focusing on the task at hand. Cas didn’t seem too far off from coming already, if his soft grunts and swelling knot were any indication. Dean didn’t think too hard about his worries, he just listened to the alpha’s direction.

“Okay… back off a little… good…” Cas whispered above him, gently coaxing Dean’s head into place. Dean could feel the knot swelling at his lips, stretching his mouth as far as it could go. “When I come, you’re going to have to breathe through your nose. Can you do that for me? Show me.”

Dean felt a flare of annoyance, but he complied and took a noisy breath through his nose.

Cas nodded thoughtfully.

“Good. I’m going to come soon. Just remember to breathe through your nose, okay?”

Dean nodded, still a bit annoyed, but didn’t pop off to vocalize that now that Cas had oriented him how he wanted him.

As Cas’s breathing picked up, so did the knot, swelling suddenly large enough to press against the walls of Dean’s mouth and stretch him as far as he could go. Panic hit Dean as he realized he was stuck with Cas’s dick in his mouth, and for a moment he worried he couldn’t breathe.

“Remember,” Cas panted, and Dean took a sharp breath through his nose. Cas rewarded him with a tender stroke through his hair. “Good. Remember to breathe like that and you’ll be fine. Now, take a deep breath, Dean.”

Dean was not prepared for the sudden stream of liquid that poured down his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and fought off the panic as he realized he just had to wait for Cas to finish coming before he got another breath.

Cas’s orgasms were unlike anything Dean had ever seen before. They lasted for almost a half an hour, long spurts of come followed by minutes of throbbing, followed by more long spurts of come until the knot sized down.

“You’re doing so well,” Cas cooed, cupping Dean’s face and gently tilting his head up to meet his eyes. “Just breathe through your nose. Feels so good, Dean. You feel so amazing. Can’t wait to be in your ass.”

Dean swallowed hard at that comment, drinking down another spurt of come. He wasn’t in a position to argue with him, and as far as he’d let Cas take it last night he wasn’t surprised he expected to be able to truly fuck him. But Dean still had a firm no dick policy where his ass was concerned, and he didn’t intend on breaking that oath for anyone.

Not even for a smoking hot alpha who seemed to know all the right places to push him to get him to scream his name while he came. Especially not for an alpha, smoking hot or no.

Cas closed his eyes and tilted his head back like Dean sucking his dick was the most enjoyable thing he’d ever experienced. Dean was still concentrating on not choking.

Luckily, Cas stopped shooting down his throat for a few minutes so Dean could catch his breath. The knot felt a little smaller, and Dean had a feeling he could get free after about fifteen minutes of this if he wanted.

Cas just stroked his hair in the silence, admiring Dean in a way that Dean definitely would have turned away from if he could. As it was, he could only shut his eyes as Cas looked him over with lust and admiration plain on his face.

“My omega,” Cas whispered as he started shooting again. Dean shuddered and sucked in a breath. “So good to me.”

Once he got used to the rhythm, Dean could focus on his own arousal. Cas looked amazing, all flushed cheeks and happy smiles, drooping gold eyes with blown pupils. Dean took hold of Cas’s firm ass, stroking over the meaty strength of him. Dean felt full. He liked having a dick in his mouth. He liked kneeling while Cas towered over him.

Dean waited, letting Cas pet his hair as the knot slowly shrank, and even when he had enough room in his mouth to slip free, he didn’t. He closed his eyes, drinking down what was offered to him, and just enjoyed. It had been a long time since he’d been close to someone like this, and this seemed so intimate to him. Cas’s affection, though it made him uncomfortable, was nice.

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that, but Cas eventually began to thrust into his mouth slowly.

“Do you like cock warming?” Cas asked, a finger skating over Dean’s jaw as he fucked into him lazily. He was so relaxed, more relaxed than Dean had ever seen the stiff soldier. Even when he was fucking him last night, there was a sort of intensity to everything he did. This morning he was just… lazily happy.

Dean didn’t answer. He shut his eyes and made his jaw accept Castiel’s gentle thrusts, even though it was already beginning to ache.

“Like feeling full?” Cas asked breathless, and again, almost against his will, Dean opened his eyes slowly and got caught in the lusty expression of the alpha.

Dean grabbed at Cas’s ass and yanked in answer.

Cas laughed, fisting his hand in Dean’s hair and holding Dean still while he ground into his mouth. Dean choked lightly, spitting Cas’s cock up and laughing in turn. “You dick!” Dean protested just as Cas started shooting again, painting his chest and chin white this time.

“Unnnnnh…” Cas groaned, watching with a feverish excitement as the come spread over Dean’s chest.

“You like this?” Dean asked, turned on by how excited Cas seemed to get in marking him up.

“Don’t wash it,” Cas pleaded, breathing heavily. “Don’t. It’s perfect.”

“It’s sticky,” Dean protested, but Cas caught his hand as he cupped water from the stream to wash the stain away.

“It’s perfect,” he repeated, locking in on Dean’s eyes, and suddenly all that intensity was back full force.

Dean looked away immediately, watching the water pass around them. Good thing it was late summer, and the air was hot enough to turn the stream pleasantly cool against Dean’s skin.

He didn’t wash it. Cas rubbed it into his skin until it dried cool against the air.

“I’m not done, Dean,” Cas murmured. Dean swallowed. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth obediently.

 

 

The rest of the day passed with hiking and fucking breaks, where Cas tried more than once to bend Dean over a tree trunk before he had to rough house him out of his alpha haze.

“No sex,” he reminded him, even as he sank to his knees and opened his mouth for Cas to eagerly fuck. Cas growled but acquiesced, his eyes clearer, until he started pumping himself in and out of Dean’s mouth.

Dean preferred blowing Cas over dry humping because it saved them come cleanup, but he didn’t let Cas pop a knot after the creek. He wanted to keep their sex breaks short and Dean didn’t know how well he could digest a belly full of come, and he didn’t want to think about it, honestly.

Cas always thanked Dean with a hand through his hair, or a thumb rubbing soothing circles along his cheek as he cupped his jaw, and Dean quietly enjoyed the praise, though he was still wary of Cas’s heightened level of affection. It was probably due to all the hormones. Dean didn’t mention it.

Cas peered up at the sun, quiet and thoughtful, before announcing, “Let’s nap. We’ve been hiking since seven this morning, and it’s nearly three. We need to rest if we’re going to keep this pace up until nightfall.”

“Speak for yourself. I could probably take on Superman; I’m in tip-top shape,” Dean quipped, flexing his arm jokingly.

Cas’s gold eyes flashed to him, locking on the bulge in Dean’s bicep.

“Really? That’s all it takes?” Dean mumbled around the mouth pressed to his, hands already tugging at his clothing.

“Mmmm…” Cas purred, lifting Dean by the backs of his thighs and setting him on a nearby, hopefully sturdy, branch.

A grunting, hot mess of an orgasm later, Cas kicked some pinecones out of the way and made a patch on the ground for them to sleep, which Dean could heartily get behind in his post-coital, sleepy state.

Cas offered an arm to Dean and Dean didn’t think too hard about moving in against his chest. Cas kissed his forehead— _kissed his forehead_ —and Dean faded before he could process anything else.

Cas woke him with a gentle shake to his shoulder.

“You said you were in a hurry. You wanted to hike more before nightfall,” Cas whispered as Dean glared at him, blinking in the daylight.

“Eh,” Dean shrugged, and though he’d been reluctant to sleep in the first place he was perfectly happy to go back to it now he’d been woken up. “Doesn’t really matter anymore. We’ll reach camp tonight or tomorrow. I’ve gone more than two weeks without my heat suppressants. There’s no stopping it now, even if I got heat suppressants today.”

Dean felt eyes on the back of his neck as he sighed and adjusted his arm as a better pillow for his cheek.

“So you will experience a heat soon?”

“Guess so,” Dean tried to sound nonchalant, but a chill went down his spine. He really hated heat. He felt so out of control.

“I’ll help you.” Cas laid back down next to him, pressing his chest to Dean’s back and stroking a soft touch across Dean’s shoulder. Dean suppressed the very different kind of shiver that ran through him. “My knot is yours.”

“Thanks, but we should be back to camp by then. Plenty of fake ones lying around.”

Cas stiffened behind him. His fingers pressed into Dean’s upper arm and Dean ached at their strength.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cas scoffed, “those cold toys can’t compare to a flesh and blood knot.”

Dean reluctantly opened his eyes, peering over his shoulder. Cas’s gold eyes were serious and piercing.

Cas was still at the peak of his rut, and this kind of possessive behavior—the knot pressed insistently to his ass, the hard grip on his arm, and those hawk eyes that watched his every move—was still understandable. Dean doubted he’d be able to talk any sense into Cas until his rut faded, so why even try?

“We’ll see,” Dean amended, but no way was he going to let Cas anywhere near him when he was out of his mind on his heat, begging to be mated—ugh, just the thought of Cas seeing him canting his hips up, head down, whining like a bitch-- it made Dean draw back a little from Cas’s warm, solid form.

“Dean.” Cas didn’t sound pleased, but he let it go.

Dean was snatched from the town near the rebel camp during an expedition to steal heat suppressants. He’d only spent forty minutes or so tied up in the car on the way to the base, so the base was close to camp. The rebels moved camp once a month. Dean hoped they were where he’d left them and he and Cas were headed in the right direction. He had a feeling Charlie wouldn’t let them leave early, because it would be next to impossible for Dean to find them once they moved, and Dean had always been on Charlie’s favorites list.

By hiking close to the road Dean soon found a sign indicating the city limits of the town he was taken from.

“Not far now, Cas,” Dean announced cheerfully as they searched for an adequate hiding spot to spend the night. A nest of fallen trees afforded them some protection, so Cas got to work clearing the pine needles from a patch of dirt and grass in the middle.

“I’m an alpha, Dean. Are you sure I should come with you?” Cas snuggled close, close enough that Dean stiffened before reminding himself that Cas’s brain was a hormone addled cesspool of alpha possessiveness and forced himself to relax into the arm slung over his hip.

“It’s a camp for rebels. You’re officially a rebel. Second in command’s an alpha, so you won’t be alone.” Dean hesitated before continuing on, “I know one or two omegas there with a major thing for alphas, if they could find one without a major attitude problem. It’s that whole instinct thing; even with the war and the bad blood between us, there’s something about our insides that just crave alpha.” Dean swallowed thickly around his words, realizing that could definitely apply to him. His body took him completely by surprise with its reactions to Cas. Cas nuzzled the back of his neck, a hand resting possessively on Dean’s lower belly like he wanted to protect the child they had just not made. Rut instincts, Dean guessed.

“I have no interest in any other omegas,” Cas mumbled. Dean almost snorted. That resolve would last all of two seconds as soon as Cas got a look at Meg or Daphne, turning tail for him and wafting their scents his way. For omega rebels, they sure were a couple of alpha chasers.

 

“Of course you don’t,” Dean muttered, Cas’s happy, content smell lulling him into sleep right along with the alpha.

 

“Dean.”

“Mmm?”

“How irate would you be if I woke you up for a quick release?”

Dean paused, almost snorting with frustration.

 

“Just this once I’ll forgive you.”

 

“Thank you, Dean.” Dean felt Cas’s lips against the back of his neck before he drifted to sleep.

 

 

 

 


	3. The Road

Charlie dropped everything she was holding when she noticed Dean walking across the field. She ran and tackled him, but a 110 pound redheaded alpha wasn’t nearly enough to wind him.

“You escaped!” She grinned as he set her back on her feet. She looked him over. “I knew you would! I’m so glad we didn’t pack up early!”

“I had some inside help.” Dean gestured over his shoulder to Cas who was a respectful distance away, his nostrils flared as he watched the two of them.

“Yeah, literally. I can smell him all over you.” Charlie wrinkled her nose, eyeing Cas distastefully. Cas, however, relaxed at her words.

“Castiel.” Cas extended a stiff hand toward her. Charlie looked at Dean and asked,

“He cool?”

“He’s cool.” Dean nodded. Charlie shook Cas’s hand enthusiastically.

“Thanks for helping Dean. He’s like a brother to me, I can’t tell you how happy I am to have him back.”

Cas nodded quietly and Dean smiled at how stiff and uncomfortable he looked.

“Why were you thinking of leaving early?” Dean asked as they crossed the remainder of the field to the small circle of tents.

“One of the scouts spotted alpha uniforms in the woods two miles from here a couple of days ago, so people were getting nervous.” Charlie reported, clasping her hands behind her back.

“You are the leader,” came Cas’s quiet words from behind him.

“My dad was a hunter, he showed me how to live in the woods,” Dean answered absently, taking in the state of the small camp. Jo was bent over case of water bottles with a clipboard in her hand and she beamed when she noticed him. She managed a quick kiss to his cheek and a “thank god” before she hurried off in the other direction. “I’m in charge of keeping them alive out here, but no, I’m not a leader.”

“My man!” Ash traded a high-five handshake with him as he walked past. “Good to see you! You gotta tell us the tale over lunch!” Dean thumbs-upped Ash in reply, but he was preoccupied with scanning the camp. They needed more wood, they were almost out from the look of the woodpile. Garth accidentally damaged several water filters before Dean left, and they probably hadn’t been able to salvage new ones in the time he’d been away. They couldn’t risk anyone getting sick off bad water without a medic in the camp, so Dean had to start planning a new trip to town for those.

“Jo’s been trying to manage without you, but we’ve been low on food without our best hunter. Had to steal some from alpha supply trucks a week ago.”

“No, you  _didn’t_ ,” Dean groaned. “Was she headed to the supply tent just now?”

“Probably.”

“Alright.” Cas was so quiet trailing behind them that Dean had almost forgotten about him in his concern for the camp’s health. “Will you give Cas the newbie tour, or find someone who isn’t busy to do it? Oh, and be sure to introduce Meg and Daphne to him, he’s just their type. He’ll need a tent to himself to sleep off the last of his rut, though.”

“Is that why I smell him all over you?” Charlie lifted an accusatory eyebrow. Dean just shrugged. Charlie’s expression darkened and her eyes darted to Cas. “Are you preg—”

“No.” Dean cut her off. Charlie visibly relaxed. She cleared her throat before continuing.

“We’re running low on tents, too, so he can’t have one all to himself. I might let him share with me, if I decide I like him.” Charlie eyed Cas, a playful smile on her lips.

“You’re an alpha.” Cas looked not at Charlie, but at Dean. Dean’s skin crawled at the intensity in those blue eyes. He seemed either pissed or hurt, Dean couldn’t really tell and didn’t have the time to think it over.

“Damn straight. We don’t need you impregnating the whole camp, and that alpha musk you’re wafting everywhere doesn’t do much for me. You can be sure I have no desire to jump you in your sleep, for more reasons than the obvious.”

Cas was still glaring at Dean, but then he blinked and shifted his attention to Charlie.

“Cool. I’ll leave him in your hands, Charlie.” Dean shook off the prickle of discomfort from the alpha’s attitude. He waved at them and made a beeline to the supply tent to assess the damage his absence had caused.

 

 

 

Dean had to recount the daring tale of his escape twice, once at lunch and again over dinner as those missing from lunch, like Benny who was out fishing, demanded it. Nearly everyone warmed up to Cas when they heard how he’d assisted Dean. Meg and Daphne, predictably, practically fought each other for Cas’s attention, but the soldier looked less than impressed with both of them. Not that Dean cared or even noticed, but it was hard not to catch the eye roll when Meg cattily shoved Daphne to the side to hand feed him smoked trout.

Dean felt immeasurably relieved when he finally had the time to use the tub and wash himself from head to toe with soap. He stunk like alpha and sex. Plus, he finally had a toothbrush and shampoo; he felt like a new person when he shaved his stubble and put on a pair of his own nightclothes. Dean looked young again without the beard.

“Dean?”

Dean recognized that gravel voice from just outside his tent.

“You need something Cas?” he asked.

“May I come in?”

The tent was small, big enough for Dean to stand up in but only wide enough to take a few steps in each direction. Dean hadn’t realized how accustomed to Cas’s scent he’d become on their little trip until the alpha stepped in and his musk hit Dean like a wall, still strong from the end of his rut. Cas looked clean too, and Dean had to admit he was handsome all clean in a sleeping tank. The alpha was fit, impressively so.

“You shaved,” Cas noted, his eyes skimming over Dean in an obviously sexual way. Dean grinned. Yeah, he looked good too, and yeah, he definitely knew Cas was attracted to him, in his rut state at least.

“You must be exhausted.”

“Charlie had me chopping wood all day, so I am tired,” Cas answered. His hands were crossed behind his back and he looked oddly proper for a conversation between two friends who’d just spent the last five days running around the woods together.

“No, I meant your rut’s almost over. Most alphas I know sleep for at least a day at the end.”

“Ah. Yes. Well, I doubt I’ll wake up at all tomorrow.” Cas nodded. He watched Dean intensely, like when he’d first met him in the cell—serious, grim.

“You need something?” Dean repeated his earlier question as Cas’s gaze was starting to unsettle him.

“Why did you ask Charlie to introduce Meg and Daphne to me?” Cas asked, his voice low.

“I saw they came on pretty strong.” Dean sat down on his sleeping bag, chuckling at the memory. He’d missed sleeping bags a lot. “They’re sweet once they calm down a little. Well, Daphne is sweet. Meg’s got her qualities—she’s, uh, loyal from what I’ve seen. It’s been years since many of the people on this camp encountered an alpha who didn’t want to beat them into submission. You can’t really blame them for getting carried away, that rut smell probably clogged up their brains.”

“Dean,” Cas’s voice was strained, “I’ve come to understand that you seem to view our time together as… a service you provided for me. But that’s not how I viewed it, nor how I had hoped you would see it.” Cas looked away, shifting on his feet. The tent was too quiet for this kind of conversation. Dean felt a little vulnerable sitting on the ground when Cas stood tall and straight and so formal.

“I’m not interested in any other omegas. I’m interested in you,” he murmured. Dean’s heartbeat thudded in his ears loudly at those words, and he tried his best to avoid Cas’s eyes as his mind raced through all of the sudden awkward for a response to that.

“You’re just saying that because I helped you through your rut. When your hormones fade you’re not going to mean any of this,” Dean dismissed him immediately, a nervous sweat starting on his palms. “You’re a good guy, Cas. You’ve earned my trust and a spot at camp, so let’s not make this, y’know, awkward. It was what it was. Let’s just forget about it now that your rut’s over.”

Cas seemed to reel and shift back even though his feet never moved. He gaped a little at Dean’s words.

“I’m thinking perfectly clearly. Do you see any yellow in my eyes?”

“No, but it’s not really over, you’ve still got—“

“Dean, I’m 32 years old. I’ve been through enough ruts that I can guarantee I mean exactly what I’m saying right now and I’m not going to backtrack in the morning. Or in a day. Whenever,” Cas huffed impatiently. He took a steadying breath, squaring his shoulders and spreading his feet into a recognizable military position of respectful attention. “I’m declaring my intentions to become your mate.”

“What?” Dean blinked. _What?_

“You are brave and honorable... funny, kind… not to mention beautiful. I’ve never been so attracted to another before, omega or alpha. I want to prove my worth to you, if you’ll let me.”

“Uh. I think you mean ruggedly handsome.” This caught him completely off guard. Cas hadn’t moved, but Dean felt like he was crowding him in. Yes, the space of the tent was definitely too small for the two of them.

“I’m willing to wait for you, if you’re unwilling to take a mate at this point in your life. I understand if you want to get to know me more since it is a very big decision, but I don’t require any more time. I would mate with you right now, if you agreed to it, though you seem insistent that you can’t trust my actions in my rut so I wouldn’t want you to feel unsure about my resolve. I hope you’ll consider my offer.”

“What?” Dean’s brain short-circuited as he watched Cas retreat from the tent. He felt torn between demanding that Cas come back and explain himself, and letting him go because he was terrified he would say more.

Cas paused at the flap to his tent. He turned back, a sly smile lighting his face.

“I meant  _everything_  I said in my rut.”

 

****

Dean didn’t have much time to think about Cas over the next day as he was slammed with planning supply runs and hunting to replenish the camps’ diminished meat stores. Henrickson was a good hunter, but he had the most experience as a soldier and they needed him for tactical decisions more than they needed meat during Dean’s absence.

Dean took Kevin with him on a hunt the very next day, mostly to avoid Cas as he would likely wake up that morning from his end-of-rut nap. Kevin was a book smart nerdy kid who came to the camp two months ago, shivering in the aftermath of the murder of his mother by out-of-control alpha guards. He’d jumped at Dean’s offer to teach him to kill things. It seemed like a good outlet for his rage, and the kid had come a long way in a short amount of time.

“Did they hurt you when you were there?” Kevin asked as they hiked, following a trail of light hoof prints.

“Not much. Nothing that hasn’t healed up.” Poor kid was probably worried sick about him. It wasn’t really a lie, he had healed up just fine.

“They just wanted you to mate?”

“Basically.”

“Then they would have released you back to us? They didn’t care what happened to you as long as you popped out a kid?”

“Didn’t stick around long enough to find out,” he whispered. Dean shushed the kid when he heard a twig snap. It came from north of their location, but the deer tracks led East.

Six alpha soldiers, the red lion crest blazing on their chest, walked into sight not thirty feet from them. Dean pulled the kid down behind the foliage of a bush, quiet but quick.

He watched the one at the head gesture at the ground and confer with the soldiers following him before they continued on. When they were at a safe distance, Kevin asked,

“What are they doing here? It’s like they’re tracking something.”

“They’re tracking us, Kevin.”

“Have you seen them out here like this before?”

Dean’s jaw twitched and his heart iced over with a horrible, wrenching feeling.

“No.”

** **

Dean gave the order as soon as they got back to camp: everything packed up in the hour, everyone ready to move, and whatever they couldn’t pack was to be burned and left.

He knew there was no use in attempting to best Cas in combat, no one here was nearly as skilled in hand-to-hand as Cas obviously was, so he went for the greatest emotional damage he could possibly deliver. He found Benny and Jo for backup before he stormed to Charlie’s tent.

“You liar.”

Cas looked up from the book in his lap to three gun barrels leveled at his face.

He carefully bookmarked his page and set the book next to him on the ground by his sleeping bag.

“Why would you accuse me of that?” Cas asked, far too calm for a man with three guns pointed at him.

“Those alpha soldiers are tracking us. They never wanted me, they wanted the camp. You used me to lead you here.” A scowl twisted Dean’s face as the burning sensation of betrayal flared, “I took care of you in the woods, I gave you the fucking benefit of the doubt. I thought you could have left me in that car and escaped on your own, but you were just telling your buddies to leave us alone until we got to camp.” Dean’s hands shook on his gun so he took a deep breath to steady himself. Cas looked concerned, but still not afraid.

“I should have slit your throat in your sleep. I wish I had, but I’m a moron and I fell for that noble bullshit. Dean gripped his gun hard. “I want you out. Go join those scum in the woods. Just try and catch us. I know I can’t force you out, but fuck, I’m willing to die trying.”

“Dean, I—“

“Save it, Cas _tiel_ ,” Dean decided to redact his nickname. The waste of space didn’t deserve it.

Castiel’s jaw locked tight and he glared at Dean. He stood swiftly and gracefully, like the predator he was, and walked straight into them, forcing them to back away and let him pass through the flap. The camp was frenzied, everyone packing as fast as possible, but people stared and whispered as he passed. Dean watched him, gun pointed at his back, until he crossed the field and disappeared into the woods exactly where they’d appeared from a day earlier.

It stung, more than Dean would ever admit. Dean kicked himself because he knew better. Most alphas couldn’t be trusted, that was just a fact.

He pulled his game face back on and sprinted to the supply tent to help Jo pack the essentials.

Scared omegas could pack fast, and despite the size of the camp they were loaded into the scattered jeeps in the woods and the backpacks every camper had to carry within forty minutes. Dean was sorting out who would drive and who would hike when Garth tugged on his elbow insistently, pointing out over the empty woods.

Cas strode through the tall grass, dragging an alpha soldier with his arms tied along with him. Dean handed his clipboard over to Jo and walked out to meet the alpha away from the rest of the staring camp. He didn’t know what game Castiel was playing, but he didn’t want a scene in front of everyone if he could help it.

Castiel stopped when Dean got within a few feet of him.

“You son of a bitch, what the hell do you think you’re—”

Cas shoved the soldier down to his knees by the grip he had on his hair.

“Speak,” he demanded.

The soldier bled from a cut on his lip, and his eye looked like it was puffing up. He edged away from Castiel on his knees, but Castiel kept a firm, seemingly painful grip on his hair.

“Novak was not involved in our mission. He disgraced us and he’s no longer a part of our great force. He was discharged dishonorably,” the soldier coughed.

Dean scoffed. He couldn’t believe this shit.

“You think this will work?” Dean spat. “You think I’m that stupid?”

“I tied up the five other alphas following our tracks. I can show you if you come with me.” The alpha on the ground winced at the grip Castiel had on his hair.

Jo had followed Dean and she hovered just behind his elbow. Maybe Cas really did just want Dean. Maybe that’s what all this was about, this whole disgusting plan, to get Dean to present willingly for him so he could claim him. You couldn’t claim an unwilling omega. Maybe if he just gave him what he wanted he’d leave the rest of the camp alone.

“Jo, get everyone moving. I’ll catch up to you.”

“Don’t go with him alone. He’s too dangerous.”

“He is dangerous. Far more dangerous than any of us. Taking someone with me isn’t going to help. Taking a fucking army with me probably wouldn’t do much.”

Castiel stood silently and waited. Jo tried to argue with him one last time, but Dean shrugged her off until she reluctantly wandered back to the group of staring omegas and ordered them to hurry up.

Castiel did that Vulcan thing Dean had witnessed earlier where he pressed on the soldier’s neck and he passed out. Then he turned and wordlessly headed back across the field and into the woods. Dean followed in his footsteps, preparing himself for the inevitable.

He was nervous. He’d never taken an Alpha in his ass and he didn’t know what to expect. Not to mention that he’d hoped beyond hope that he would someday find a mate he could love and share his life with. He certainly had not planned on using his one and only mating opportunity as a device to buy his friends time. He tried to find comfort by reminding himself that people with estranged mates could still find partners; but mating was forever, and there were no second chances when it came to the chemical bond.

Dean had lost friends in the war, buddies and fellow soldiers, but this would be the biggest hit. He hated the war in that moment, more than he’d ever hated anything or anyone, including Cas. Castiel.

“They’re there.” Castiel stopped and Dean almost ran into him. To his mild surprise, there they were, all tied up to each other and to various trees. The soldiers had apparently been carrying enough handcuffs and rope to tie up the whole camp, maybe in their sleep, so Castiel must have used that against them.

“Neat,” Dean muttered, unimpressed. “Still doesn’t explain why they’re out here in the first place.”

“I imagine they followed us after we escaped,” Castiel replied coolly, his eyes flat.

“Yeah, which was your plan all along,” Dean replied, a vicious note to his voice.

Castiel’s calm suddenly snapped. Rolling his eyes skyward, he threw his hands up. “I am not duping you. I wouldn’t tie up my own men if they were less than ten minutes from discovering your camp and ratting you out to the entire alpha army. I’d wait. I’d let it happen, and then I’d take you for myself when their innumerable reinforcements followed and swarmed your camp.”

Dean’s temper flared to match Castiel’s.

“I’m not an idiot, Cas! I may not have caught on right away, and yeah, ok, that was dumb, but you can’t fool me again. You’re all the same!”

Castiel stared at him, nostrils flared, radiating heat and pure alpha aggression in the small space between them.

“What happened to you?” Castiel crossed his arms over his chest, eyes boring into Dean until Dean couldn’t take it and he looked away. “Someone you loved.”

“Don’t try to fucking psychoanalyze me,” Dean grunted.

“What can I say or do to prove I’m not in league with these men?” Castiel demanded. “Nothing. I can’t do anything. You’ll never believe it. Even though I’ve done nothing to hurt you, you keep expecting me to just because I’m an alpha.”

“You’re an alpha soldier. Of course I’m suspicious.”

“Ah, so they were a soldier,” Cas concluded. Dean’s temper flared again, blinding his reason and sense of self-preservation. He wound his arm back and threw a punch straight for Cas’s face.

He missed, of course, and suddenly Cas was behind him, twisting Dean’s arm down to his lower back and wrapping his hand around Dean’s throat.

Dean tried to force his leg around the back of Castiel’s shin and take them both down, but Castiel sidestepped him. He shoved and Dean went down, Castiel landing on top of him and grabbing his other arm in the fall so Dean had both arms twisted behind his back and his cheek pressed to the dirt. He was helpless -- not that he’d expected it to go any other way.

A low growl rumbled through Cas’s chest and Dean could smell the alpha's fury.

“Who betrayed you?” Dean jolted at the words and found himself struggling uselessly against Cas’s unbreakable grip.

“Fuck you,” Dean spat. The dirt tasted bitter on his tongue, and he retched.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I want to protect you, Dean,” Cas’s voice softened to a sweet tone Dean really did not want to hear. Castiel sighed and leaned his forehead against the back of Dean’s head.

Dean whipped his head back, slamming into him.

A stream of curses filled the air behind him, but somehow Castiel’s grip was still too tight to break. 

“What are you, some kind of super soldier?” Dean demanded as he struggled against Castiel’s hold. His head throbbed; his wrists burned.

“I’m a war veteran with sixteen years of professional experience. There’s no way you can take me, Dean,” Castiel growled from behind him. “I was recruited as special forces in my youth. I was an assassin; I killed for a living. It was me or them, and I learned how to secure the odds.”

Dean quieted immediately. Even though Cas hadn’t said anything, Dean had known Cas was terribly dangerous.

“I was promoted to a commanding rank years ago and I made the decision to never kill again. I don’t enjoy it, Dean. I hate it.” Cas let Dean’s wrists go in a swift movement that left Dean gasping for breath. “So now you know my goddamn weakness,” he murmured.

“That’s not a weakness.” Dean gasped, still trying to catch his breath as he scrambled back to his feet.

“I’m a murderer. If you think murder doesn’t damage you irreversibly, then you’re obviously not one.” Cas surveyed him, his expression flat.

“You don’t kill anymore?” Dean asked cautiously.

“I try very hard not to, but we will have to dispose of these guards unless your camp can cover their tracks extremely well. I don’t see any way around it.” Castiel turned his cold eyes on the group of soldiers tied to trees and each other on the ground.

“We’re close enough to the Canadian border that if we can buy ourselves a few days we can make it out of their jurisdiction. Canada and America—“

“They don’t communicate, I know. Not since the beginning of the war.” Castiel nodded, thoughtful.

“I’ve heard they don’t enforce the ordinance there. We might be able to reintegrate back into society and stop living day to day in the woods.”

“That’s true. They are relatively welcoming to American refugees. It drives the higher up alphas in the American military crazy. Your plan is a good one,” Castiel confirmed.

Dean almost relaxed at that. That was the plan since square one -- get to Canada and hope they would take them in -- but Dean had never been completely sure they would since all his information was based on hearsay. Cas would obviously know if Canada had a history of accepting refugees.

“We better hurry, then,” Castiel said quickly. “I’ve hidden the keys in various places so they won’t starve to death. We’ve got a few hours until they wake up and maybe a couple more until they find the keys, assuming they’re fairly stupid.”

“I think that’s a safe bet.” Dean almost grinned, despite himself. Cas cast a soft smile his way.

“Let me help you. I’m not going to betray you, Dean. I only want to protect you.”

Dean didn’t think anyone had ever said anything so cheesy to his face before. To his horror, a shiver of delight went through him, and he felt a bit of slick leak between his cheeks.

 

 

 Explaining to the camp that Cas was, once again, on the good guy side was quite a feat. Reluctant to trust an alpha in the first place, most of them refused to speak to Cas after the events of the day, despite Dean’s reassurance. The fact that they trusted Dean enough to allow Cas to stay was good enough, Dean supposed.

Charlie was still cool with Cas sharing her tent, to Dean’s great relief. He wasn’t ready to share his tent with Cas after all that mating talk, and he couldn’t trust anyone else in the camp not to stab the alpha in his sleep.

Soon after the rebels set up for the night, Meg dropped by with Daphne close behind her. She walked in without asking, thankfully right after Dean finished changing his clothes.

“Come in,” Dean griped.

Meg cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Apparently you called dibs on alpha boy? He refuses to budge.”

“I’m trying not to imagine what that means,” Dean grimaced. “I did not ‘call dibs’ on him.”

“Ok, so he called dibs on you,” Meg waved him off. “Same dif, Winchester. I want to know how serious you are about him. He’s my ideal man, and if you’re just jerking him around I’m going to kick your ass until you quit.”

“Alright, blondie. Settle down.” Dean sighed. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?” Meg dragged the sentence out, quirking her head to the side in a decidedly annoying gesture.

Dean shifted down in his sleeping bag. He didn’t want to think about this for a while, not until they were safe on the other side of the border. He had too much weighing on his mind, too much that was life or death, freedom or slavery, to consider anything long-term like taking a mate.

“I mean it’s not really your business. If he was actually interested in you, then I wouldn’t matter. Better luck next time,” Dean replied, brusquely.

It was definitely the wrong answer. Meg lunged at him and Dean wished he’d had the forethought to get out of his sleeping bag.

Eventually Benny and some other omega whose name Dean didn’t know yanked the hair-pulling, spitting ball of fire off him and dragged her back to her tent.

Dean accepted Benny’s offer to sleep in his tent for the night on the off chance that she decided to sneak up on him in a vulnerable state.

** **

It was touch and go for a few days. Dean, Cas, Benny, Kevin, Victor and a few others with hunting or military experience fell behind to guard against alpha troops, should they find them, and try to cover the camp’s trail as best as they could.

Cas was hard to ignore. He didn’t say anything, but Dean felt his presence when he was near, and he felt his eyes on him sometimes when he was within sight.

They packed and hiked every day. There were only four children in the group, and there was room for them in the off-roaders so they could keep up with the group’s pace.

People were tired; after several weeks of sedentary lifestyle, hiking every day left them exhausted. All their supplies ran low. They raced frantically for the finish line on fumes.

Dean, unfortunately, had more time to think than he wanted. They walked for hours, and as he stared at his feet and maneuvered over rocks and fallen trees he missed his old life. He missed sitting with Sam in the Impala, knocking back beers and laughing over nothing. He missed John’s quiet smile when he fixed a car for a satisfied client. He missed sleeping in a bed.

 

 

It was Dean’s fault. He was so focused on his own whiney problems he didn’t see the flash of red to his right, didn’t notice until the bang dropped him to the ground.

He felt his chest, but there was no wound and no blood when he drew his trembling hands to his eyes.

He could hear the blood pound through his skull as he rolled to the sound of shooting. He didn’t stop until he was hidden under the nearest fallen tree and its dying foliage. He waited for the horrible sound to stop, his chest torn to pieces with terror for his friends.

It did, accompanied by a sickening squelching noise.

“Dean.”

Dean uncovered his head and sat up, his arms shaking as he put his weight on them. Cas dropped the alpha body beside him, its head twisted at an impossible angle. Cas’s face grew white as he looked Dean over from twenty feet away.

“You are unharmed?”

“You killed him,” Dean whispered.

“He shot at you.”

Dean had seen his friends dead, but he’d never witnessed a friend commit a murder. Cas did so casually, as though he were wiping a bug stain from his windshield at a gas stop.

“Benny,” Dean realized, bolting to his feet and scanning the forest feverishly for his companion. He froze when he heard the gurgling sound, saw the dark mass lying on the ground several feet away.

Dean raced to his side, praying with every thundering step that his fears were too much, that Benny was hit in the shoulder or the thigh or...

Dean pulled his friend into his arms as Benny gasped around the wetness in his throat, his eyes bulging out in fear, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water. Blood seeped down his chest and soaked his shirt and pants. Dean heard the sob catch in his throat as the certainty that his friend would die terrified and in agony hit him.

Benny shook and convulsed as the blood choked him. Dean wailed for him because he couldn’t make a sound, called his name and cradled his head, telling him to hold on, it wouldn’t be long. He’d be fine. Just a little longer until it didn’t hurt.

His eyes bulged one last time before he stilled. Tears made trails on Dean’s cheeks as he pulled his friend into his chest and hugged his lifeless body.

He felt a hand on his back, and Garth dropped to his knees at his side, grabbing at Benny’s knee, tears already spilling over his eyes. Kevin came crashing through the woods in a panic but fell silent when he saw the men gathered around Benny’s body.

Dean let himself have a few minutes of misery before he carefully set Benny back on the ground. He had to focus on stopping his hands from shaking. He had to pull himself together.

“Were there more?” Dean asked.

“I think he was a solitary scout, not part of the group hunting us.”

Garth sniffed loudly next to him, his knees curled up to his chest as he stared through watery eyes at Benny’s body.

“Fuck them,” came Kevin’s voice, the boy’s hands shaking at his sides as he clenched them into tight fists. “We should gun them down, fight fire with fire.”

“No,” Cas said, sharp but still quiet. “You are angry, and understandably so, but we have to keep moving. We’re almost there. You are not soldiers. You are very brave, but you aren’t trained like these people.”

“They pick us off like animals.” Kevin gestured at Benny, then turned and threw his water bottle at a nearby tree. It hit and burst, liquid gushing everywhere.

“Garth,” Cas’s soft voice sounded from just above Dean’s shoulder. “Go find a jeep. Tell them we need them to carry the body and lead them back to us. We have to keep going, we can rest and grieve tonight.”

“Dean.”

“No.”

“Dean,” softer this time, “we have to keep moving.”

Dean carefully got to his feet, feeling numb and disconnected from his body. Cas stood close, giving off protective alpha stink. Dean irrationally wanted to blame all this on him because he was the only one who could still think straight.

Dean heaved a deep breath, trying to reconnect with his body. He heard the jeep like a buzz in the back of his head as it pulled up next to them. He watched them load Benny, dripping blood, onto a tarp. They wrapped him up with the rest of the supplies and closed the backdoor. Then they drove off.

Dean started to move again, but he almost tripped over his foot on the first step.

He finished the day walking numbly through the forest, jumping at the smallest sounds, dropping to the ground with his hands over his head more than once because deer startled him.

He should be the one to tell Andrea. It was his duty, Benny had been his best friend. Andrea should hear it from his mouth.

She was already crying over the body when Dean caught up with the rest of the camp as they set up for the night. She got her dress and face dirty with blood as she huddled over Benny in a mirror image of Dean earlier. Her eyes were nothing but sorrow when she lifted her head to draw a great shuddering sob.

Everyone gathered in a loose circle around Andrea and her mate, whining and crying and snuffling. A high pitched grieving whine filled the air, growing softer and louder but never dying completely.

Dean volunteered with a group to cut wood for the pyre. It was midnight before they had the flames high enough to consume the body, and Dean watched the fire until it burned down to a glow even though he was dead tired. Most people drifted off to bed before Dean could rouse himself to try to stumble to his tent and sleep.

Cas sat near him, and he rose when Dean did. Dean walked back to his tent with Cas as his shadow. Cas stopped just outside of it when Dean entered. He could smell Cas at the flap to his tent for most of the night, but he never invited him in. He didn’t know what the alpha wanted, but he had no energy to deal with him. The smell of alpha did help him drift off to sleep, somehow.

Morning came and they were still safe, so Dean felt more certain the guard was a random coincidence and that he just happened to patrol the area and stumble on them.

He wanted to kill every alpha soldier he could get his hands on.

 

** **

The day passed with the steady pounding of feet.

They reached the Canadian border at about two in the afternoon. Some people cheered. Some cried. Dean felt a loosening in his chest that could have been joy if his best friend wasn’t dead. Relief was something he could still feel.

Jo managed to convince the camp to walk another mile before they set up for the night.

Dean smelled Cas at the flap of his tent again when he settled in for bed. This time he let him in, quietly laid back down on his sleeping bag, and said nothing as Cas wrapped his arms around his middle and fell asleep with his nose in Dean’s neck. His arms tightened around Dean in the night. The alpha scent clogged up Dean’s nose and his brain, sedating him somewhat and hiding some of the pain under a layer of hormone fog.

Dean didn’t feel quite as awful as he had the day before when he woke up with Cas’s nose pressed to his chest.

“I don’t want kids,” Dean said randomly.

Cas lifted his sleepy, gold-shot eyes to Dean’s and nodded once.

“Not now, at least. Maybe in the future, if we can live normally again, if they let us reintegrate. But don’t expect it—this world’s too fucked up.”

“I understand.” Cas nodded thoughtfully, hand trailing through Dean’s hair. “I would enjoy children, but I don’t need them to be happy.”

 

Dean stared blankly at the tent ceiling while Cas fell back asleep.

 


	4. New Home

It seemed like no time at all when a week passed.  Charlie started negotiations with the Canadian government; they wanted to know what kind of skills the omegas possessed, whether they could be “valuable members” of their society.  Charlie talked everyone up, and she didn’t even have to lie that much; they were a good group of capable people.

The Canadian alphas turned out to be worlds different from the American alpha military; they escorted the omega camp to the nearest refugee camp with a fleet of citizen cars and no weapons in sight. Kevin still hated them because they were alphas, but he was one of the few.

They were each assigned, to their great surprise, a little one-room studio with a month’s worth of electricity and water. It was a little small for some of the families, but for the most part preferable to the outdoor accommodations everyone was used to.

“What are they playing at here?” Dean wondered aloud from bed as Cas cooked eggs and bacon on the new stove. It had been over a year since Dean had eaten bacon, and he couldn’t hide his grunt of excitement when he saw that was one of the items the alpha military stocked their new fridge with.

“I believe their attitude is one of building peace back up between omegas and alphas rather than forcing alpha dominance. They seem convinced that the birth rate will right itself if trust is established between the genders again and families start to form naturally.”

Dean watched him in silence. Things had really settled down since they came to the houses. Maybe Dean had requested one room for both he and Cas. Maybe he’d put them down as a couple, a mated couple. Maybe he should mention that to Cas -- Cas had just silently accepted the room assignments when the alphas gave them.

He still didn’t really know what he was doing, but Cas just went along with it. And now he was making him breakfast on their new stove with ingredients from their new fridge that they shared. It kind of made Dean like him more.

“If you’re still interested, I mean… about the mating thing…” Dean started awkwardly.

“I am. I will always be,” Cas said, his eyes luminous, sea-blue orbs. “We can wait. I know you are still in pain.”

 _Benny._  Dean almost winced. He sat up a little farther in the Queen sized bed and rested his hands on his thighs under the bed cover.

“There are things you should know,” he said.

Cas turned the stove off and leaned against it to give him his full, intense attention. Dean sighed. If Cas was serious about taking on all his baggage, which he seemed to be, he had to break his no sharing rule.   

“My brother sold me out to the alpha army. We were best friends, and I trusted him with my life. He turned me in to them because he ‘believed in the mission’. He’s an economist employed by the government, and I think he said we were headed towards ‘certain doom’,” Dean couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “if everyone didn’t pitch in and squeeze out a kid. I ran off when he told me he would turn me in if I didn’t follow the ordinance. He helped them track me down; he knew how I thought and what dad had taught us. When I went into town for a heat suppressant run for the whole camp, they caught me. Right before they tossed me in that room with you, he gave me the whole speech over again about how he didn’t want to force this, how he didn’t want to _hurt_ me.”

Cas sat down at the foot of the bed, rubbing Dean’s leg through the comforter. 

“I promise that I’ll put you ahead of certain doom.” He quirked a very Cas-like grin. “I’ll never put anything before you.”

“He just changed suddenly. I don’t know what happened.” Dean swallowed hard. Cas’s hand tightened on his leg.

“Does he have a mate?”

Dean nodded. “Another alpha, Jessica.”

“They probably threatened her. You’re the leader of a large group of refugees -- they want you bad. Just the existence of camps like this give hope to other omegas who feel oppressed and try to rise up or escape.”

Dean shifted, uncomfortable at the thought. It shook his black and white view of his brother, a careful construct he’d built to protect himself from the agony of his betrayal.

“I thought of that, but I didn’t think they would do that to their own people.”

“They would.” Cas nodded, a growl in his throat.

Dean shook his head. “I’m still not sure I can forgive him.”

“He probably rationalized it to himself. His mate’s life, or your stubbornness not to give birth.”

Dean snorted indignantly. Cas lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“I’m not downplaying that. You have a right to determine with whom, when or if you’ll carry a child. But he probably didn’t see it as much of a choice between the two, and people can be blinded when it comes to the endangerment of their mates. The mating bond is strong; it overwhelms reason and even family loyalty sometimes. That’s part of the reason I never took a mate as an officer, I knew they would use him against me the moment I questioned an order. To be honest, I’d been looking for a way out of that job for years. The whole system was corrupted in the war, and it wasn’t squeaky clean to begin with.”

Dean nodded, but he still couldn’t get over the gnawing sense of betrayal.

“When we were growing up, we got in trouble a lot. We would never rat on each other, and if we got the other in trouble we found a way to help them. Sam didn’t even try. He let us rot in that jail cell.”

Cas looked away, out the window for a long moment.

“If I had to betray someone I loved, I would want to make them hate me us much as I hated myself for doing it. I would want to give them every excuse.”

That sounded like Sam.

Cas climbed up next to Dean on the bed. He twisted a hand in Dean’s, and his warmth was a welcoming presence next to him. They sat silently, the eggs steaming in the now-cooling pan. The birds tweeted outside. Dean could almost feel peaceful, the prospect of a new life ahead of him.

“I don’t know your brother well, but if he earned your trust and this sounds out of character for him, I hope you can give him the benefit of the doubt. Having been in his position, I can tell you he probably didn’t have much of a choice.”

“You fought back,” Dean argued.

“I didn’t have much to lose.”

 

Dean forgot about his heat.

He was outside with a trash bag slung over his shoulder when it hit him: a wave of dizziness swept through him, he swayed on his feet, and the sun magnified to about a thousand times its usual strength. Every part of his body caught fire.

He dropped the trash where he stood, gasping at the force of it.

_Alpha._

A heavy pulse shot through him when he walked unsteadily back to the house. The instant wet slide between his cheeks made the short journey increasingly uncomfortable.

Cas was on his hands and knees, wiping a spill off the tiny kitchen floor when Dean’s eyes found him. He stared at Dean, his Adam’s Apple bobbing in an audible gulp. His nostrils flared as Dean started toward him.

Dean pushed Cas to the floor and climbed on top of him in one movement. He made quick work of his belt, his brain frying through the heat and want, _god_ he wanted him _so bad_ , and Cas just laid back and let him. Cas dropped the hand towel and put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“Dean…”

Dean didn’t stop until he had Cas’s knot pressed to his ass, a whiny sigh escaping his lips as the heat abated somewhat. He rutted his dick against Cas’s belly as he rubbed himself against the thickening cock. It slipped through his cheeks easily, catching behind his balls and pressing pleasantly into his perineum. Dean realized just how outrageously wet he’d become in next to no time.

God, Cas was big.  _Alphas_ were so big. He’d never realized.

His whiny sigh turned into a yelp of joy as he sank down easily onto Cas’s considerable girth.  

“Ohhh.” Cas tilted his head back, his hands gentle on Dean’s hips as Dean started to rock himself onto him. “Dean you’re - I - Oh fuck -”.

Cas sat up suddenly, capturing Dean’s mouth with a hungry growl. Dean tried to growl back in response, but all that came out was a high whine as he ground himself down even more insistently. Cas grabbed his ass in both hands, hauling him impossibly close as he invaded Dean’s mouth with his tongue. Dean opened to him, grabbed Cas’s shoulders, and pressed their chests together, whimpering as Cas planted his hands on the ground beside them and thrust up into Dean in one smooth, powerful jerk.

“Ahhh!” Dean groaned loud and Cas grabbed his ass again to hold him in place while he fucked him. Dean whimpered as his heat flared, the fire in his lungs and his stomach enough to draw a shuddering gasp of pain from him. Cas stopped moving instantly, his hands cradling Dean’s face in gentle concern. His fingers were sticky on his jaw, and Dean could smell the sweet scent of his heat all over them.

“What? What, love?”

“Fuck, that stings,” Dean bit out, drawing another ragged gasp. “So hot.”

“What can I do?” Cas asked gently, carding a hand through Dean’s hair. Dean was blisteringly hot, but somehow the heat of Cas’s body didn’t bother him in the least.

“It’s not enough.” Dean gasped, a hopeless whine in his throat. Yeah, the knot in his ass felt good, amazingly so considering Dean only had Cas’s fingers up there before and that was it, but the burning wouldn’t _die_.  

Cas’s eyes darkened in understanding though Dean didn’t even know what he meant himself. Cas moved his feet under him and lifted Dean up off the floor. Dean was pretty sure he was taller and bulkier than the alpha, but Cas was obviously just as strong as Dean had suspected, easily walking them to the bed and laying Dean down on his back.

He drew out of Dean, and Dean almost cried at the empty feeling he left behind. Cas flipped him, another display of pure strength, and a shock of nerves coursed through Dean, along with more slick. Cas pushed him up on the bed until he was lying belly-down directly in the middle.

“Present,” came Cas’s gravelly voice from behind him. The mattress dipped as Cas climbed up on the bed with him. “ _Present_ , Dean,” he ordered again.

Dean had never, _ever_ in his life “presented” for anyone.  Just the idea was humiliating.  He wasn’t anyone’s bitch.

But that sort of thinking didn’t seem to matter much to him anymore.

Another whine started low in his throat as he pressed his cheek into the comforter and edged his knees up under himself until he had lifted his ass high up in the air, the cool air of the room wafting over his burning skin. Dean felt incredibly naked and vulnerable as he spread his knees out and canted his hips up. He should hate every second, but, possibly even more humiliating, it just excited him.

Cas’s hands stroked over his ass, spreading his cheeks and dipping into his hole to lather his slick around. Dean gasped at the pleasure that sparked through him from just a few fingers.

Cas was growling, gravelly huffs of breath, as he flattened one hand over Dean’s lower back, smoothing down toward his shoulders until he pressed Dean’s upper body insistently into the bed.

“Stay down,” he whispered.

Dean felt the head of his alpha’s cock at his hole, pressing. He grunted in surprise as Cas pushed in with no warning.

Dean buried his face in the comforter as Cas started pounding into him with long, hard, merciless strokes. He found himself spreading more to them, eagerly pushing back on each stroke out. The drag was delicious, lighting him up inside. His groin was a burning, pulsing mess of pleasure and need, and every time Cas speared him he cooled him down a bit and fed his craving.

The need built quickly. Cas held his hips in place as he rammed his ass. He grew rougher as Dean pleaded for more, slapping his thigh and biting at his shoulders and neck as he grunted through each thrust. Dean was saying things he'd never thought he'd say, babbling encouragement and pleas and even threats at Cas if the alpha seemed to slow all the while his chest cooled slowly to a bearable level. It helped when Cas fisted his hand in Dean’s short hair and pressed his forehead into the bed.

Dean came with a final dizzying, blinding surge of heat that abated into blissful chills.

He realized his voice wasn’t the only one in the air; Cas’s cry accompanied a rapid pressure in his ass, a pressure that scared Dean as much as it sated the bottomless hunger inside of him. He tried to pull away, but Cas’s hands clamped down on his hips and held him in place as he filled Dean completely.

“What… what is…”

“It’s okay. It’s natural, Dean. You can take me.” Cas’s soothing voice came from over his shoulder. Dean jerked away in response. Cas’s persistent nuzzling and gentle touch was hard to resist though, especially when the alpha pressed his back to his chest and pulled their hips down onto the bed so he could hold Dean tight against the line of his body. The icy chills left goose bumps all over his arms and chest.

“It’s okay,” he whispered again, his nose in Dean’s hair as he kissed over the bite marks on his neck. Dean was still reeling from the overwhelming fullness in his ass, the final piece to slaking the unbearable thirst in his abdomen.

Dean lay there for a few minutes, letting the post-coital shivers pass through him as Cas stroked his hand over his chest in a soothing way. He tried to get control of his breathing; he was panting hard and fast in the aftermath of his orgasm. Come splattered his stomach and messed up the sheets next to him.

Dean found he couldn’t speak as some of the fuzz cleared from his brain and he realized how he’d just acted. Cas pulsed inside of him as he held Dean as close as their bodies could get.

Dean woke up to Cas’s hands along his back and his come leaking out of his ass, slipping along his thighs. He felt… messy, and a little sore.

His neck and shoulders were no picnic, either, as angry red bite marks peppered every few inches. They stung when Dean accidentally brushed his hand over them, rubbing at the crick in his neck.

“Cas.” Dean groaned, shifting over to wedge an arm under Cas’s head and whisper at the sleeping alpha. “Cas, wake up.”

“Mmmm?” Cas asked, sleepily opening one eye, then two, and blinking in the soft light of… whenever it was. His hair was silken against Dean’s arm.

“Cas, did we mate?”

“No.” Cas shook his head, yawning. He stretched against the pillows, and Dean was mesmerized by his lean, strong arms. 

“Is my heat over?”

Cas sniffed at the air, licking his lips. He turned to look at Dean, his eyes a little clearer.

“Doesn’t smell like it.”

“I feel ok, though.”

“Because we just fucked five times.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t remember?”

“No, it’s coming back to me now.” Dean flushed. He had not come off as manly during their marathon sex adventure, that was for sure. He almost wanted to hide in the closet or something and make Cas leave so he didn’t have to look him in the eye ever again.

“That was the most amazing day I’ve ever had,” Cas said sincerely, rolling closer and slinging an arm over Dean’s waist while nuzzling his shoulder. “You are… indescribable.”

“Please don’t try to describe me. Or it,” Dean insisted quickly. He definitely wasn’t at the point where he could trade sweet nothings with Cas.

“You are embarrassed,” Cas surmised, squinting at him. He cocked his head to the side. “Why? There’s no need.”

“I acted like… well, like a bitch in heat.” Dean remembered his whining, his pleading, the way he’d stuck his ass in the air and begged Cas to fuck him just one more time. Cas had dragged himself off the bed and humored him, a long, slow, tired fuck that eventually sent Dean climaxing into unconsciousness. “I… I was out of control.”

“Yes,” Cas hissed, a slight grin on his lips. He pawed at Dean’s chest, his fingers resting on his collarbone, on more bite marks. “It was very arousing.”

“You found that hot?” Dean wondered, doubtful. Cas blinked at him, an innocent expression washing over his wide blue eyes.

“How could I not? Every instinct in me calls out to that side of you Dean, as your instincts call out to mine. We are made as puzzle pieces that fit together in every way. It’s your slick that eases my rut, and my semen that cools down your fever. Though it’s far from virtuous, I enjoy control, Dean, in a primitive way. I love when you bend to me and submit openly under my knot, as much as I love when you argue with me outside of the bedroom. When you whine for more, my blood boils as hot as your skin.”

“Is that why you keep pissing me off?” Dean rolled his eyes and tried to move away because he was sure that speech had obviously affected him, but Cas caught him in a gentle yet insistent grasp that kept him close.

“You are equally infuriating, I assure you,” Cas growled in his ear, a playful sound; a challenge.

Dean was still warmer than comfortable, but he had a cool enough head on his shoulders that he could twist and pounce on Cas. Cas’s eyes widened with surprise before they sparked into lust as Dean trapped his hands above his head.

Cas rolled his hips with a growl, and Dean realized he was sitting on Cas’s stomach such that Cas could poke at his ass if he moved slightly.

“You can hold me down this time if you want.”

Dean jolted at Cas’s seductive words, watched the alpha run his tongue over his pink lips before biting the lower one. God, he was handsome. And sexy. And looking at him like he wanted to blow him for all of eternity. Dean wanted to sink back on his cock and ride him a couple thousand more times, listen to his growls and moans.

“You can have the power, Dean,” Cas whispered, his eyes soft as they captured him. “You can have anything you want.”

“Stop.” Dean shook his head and sat back, releasing him. “Don’t say that shit to me.”

Cas tilted his head to the side for a moment before he used his newfound freedom to sit up and wrap his arms around Dean’s waist, resting his forehead against Dean’s chest. It was such an earnest gesture that Dean wasn’t sure how to respond, and his arms flailed awkwardly at his side.

“Why not?”

“I-” Dean swallowed hard. Cas, all that he was and offered, was overwhelming. Only a month ago he’d been convinced he’d never trust another alpha, except for Charlie -- but she was practically omega by association.

Cas tilted his head and gazed up at him, blinking innocently in a way Dean never would have expected from the fierce soldier.

Dean kissed him instead of saying anything. He pushed him back on the bed and secured his wrists above his head. He reached behind himself and dipped his own fingers in his hole. He coated Cas’s ass with some of his slick and pressed his fingers against the ring of muscle.

“Can I have this?” Dean challenged, daring the alpha to deny him. He felt reckless and angry. Cas didn’t make a sound, he just spread his legs more, tilted his head back and let Dean enter him, quiet and serene. Dean watched his expression closely as he fingered him, delighted at his sharp intake of breath when he found that sweet spot inside. When Dean pushed his hips between the alpha’s legs to replace his fingers Cas looked back at him, wrapped his legs around Dean’s hips, and canted his ass up to meet him. Dean held Cas’s hands above his head again and kissed him, rough and punishing because the alpha witnessed him in his weakest moments and he hated him for that; because Cas didn’t seem to think less of him even though he’d seen him with his face pushed into the mattress, crying for a dick inside of him.

Cas’s mouth fell open as Dean’s strokes grew harder, his soft pants driving Dean’s pace. He arched his back as though he wanted to be closer to Dean, and Dean might have pressed them skin to skin in answer to that call when he leaned down to kiss Cas’s trembling lips. Cas’s considerable erection rubbed at his stomach on each thrust. It was a relief for Dean that he wasn’t just taking his dick for Dean’s pleasure, that he actually enjoyed Dean fucking him like this.

Dean couldn’t really believe what was happening, it was like a dream. All those times he’d cursed alphas and their incessant need to dominate everything-- him, his friends, the people he was responsible for—and here Cas was, spread open for him, taking Dean and loving it. Their position reversal gave him an unexpected power rush, exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

The flood of conflicting emotions was almost too much, and Dean didn’t need long before he was coming inside of the alpha. Cas held him to his chest as he shook against him. He carded a hand through Dean’s hair and nuzzled his forehead. Dean panted, gross and sweaty, against his smooth skin, the smell of alpha contentment everywhere. Cas nosed his way to Dean’s lips, planting soft kisses there while he recovered from his orgasm. A rush of regret hit Dean for his almost cruel treatment of the alpha, and he reached a gentle hand between them to jack Cas off lazily while lying against his chest in his post-coital haze. A soft whimper fled the lips kissing him when Dean felt hot liquid spill onto his hand. Cas pulsed around him as Dean milked him dry, the sticky mess pooling between their stomachs.

 

****

 

Dean drank an ocean. Cas kept bringing him cups of water, and he poured them down his throat one after another.

Cas enjoyed cuddling. Dean loved cuddling, but he’d never had a male partner who didn’t have at least some reservations about the act, so Dean never made that particular preference known. Cas initiated it, though, so Dean could grumpily go along with it without giving away how much he actually craved the contact.

His heat came and went over the course of the day. He’d heard omega heats lasted 3 days, and his only other previous heat did as well, but most of that knowledge was from his childhood when mated omegas used to go through it with their alpha partners, before the great Split where many omegas either left their alpha partners or the alphas dragged their omega partners into a more restricting partnership. Dean wasn’t in contact with any of those unlucky omegas, and he didn’t know many omegas whose partners had sided with the omegas at the beginning of the war.

They alternated between long, slow sessions that came painfully close to “making love” for Dean’s taste, and fast and hard on the kitchen counter, Dean quickly shoving the knives and vegetables out of the way and stopping to explain to Cas that, no, he did not cry his way through sex, it was just the onions. Yes, just the onions.

When they finished, Cas knotted Dean’s ass as he bent over the spilled flour on the counter. Cas licked at the bite marks on his neck and stroked a hand over his stomach tenderly. Dean remembered how Cas had repeated the action during the breaks in their marathon rut sex sessions, too.

“You know I can’t get pregnant, right? I’m back on my heat suppressants, so...” he mused aloud. As though he hadn’t realized what he was doing, Cas’s hand stopped and slowly lifted from his stomach.

“I know.”

“You sure?”

“I know,” Cas repeated, crankier this time. He drew away from Dean as much as he could, and Dean regretted his words. Cas was nothing but sweet to him, and yet he teased him for instincts he had no control over.

“It’s cool, man. I get it. I was just giving you a hard time.”

“I’m not your ‘man’,” Cas grunted, embarrassed.

“You’re not?” Dean grinned and twisted so he could see the alpha’s coolly handsome features -- his sharp cheekbones and nose, his dark blue eyes. “You sure?” Dean asked quietly, still smiling.

Cas’s features softened and he leaned in to press a tender kiss to Dean’s mouth, without any of the ravaging tongue action Dean was used to from their heat sex. Fighting every defense he’d built up over the past few years, Dean reached for Cas’s hand and, slowly, brought it back up to his stomach.

“You can pretend if you want. I won’t judge,” he whispered, Cas’s lips close enough to lean in for another kiss.

Cas didn’t reply. He studied Dean for a moment, his eyes flicking between Dean’s in a sort of curious contemplation. His hand caught in Dean’s hair, turning him so he was lying face down on the counter again. He felt Cas bend forward to rest his forehead against Dean’s shoulders. He started to stroke gently over Dean’s stomach, the backs of his knuckles trailing along his abdominal muscles.

 

None of the nearby auto shops were hiring, much to Dean’s dismay. He liked his and Cas’s little apartment, but if one of them didn’t find a job before the end of the month they might be camping in the woods again, and illegally by the Canadian government’s rules (as the officials who introduced them to their living arrangements were sure to emphasize). Dean missed hunting, but he loved all the store bought food their fridge was stocked with. Cas was fond of making him burgers from the hefty supply of ground beef in the freezer—something about the faces Dean made while eating them seemed to delight him.

Fortunately, others of their group had better luck. Dean heard Jo landed herself a job as a waitress at a bar, The Roadhouse. Henrickson started with the local police in two weeks if he could pass all his reinstatement tests. Kevin was putting his fancy degree to use with a research group in the University a half hour away. Ash was fixing broken computers at a tech store until he could start up his online business in what he’d described to Dean as “highly questionable things”.

Dean dropped by The Roadhouse unexpectedly one day just to see Jo’s face of delighted surprise. It had been a long time since he’d seen Jo so relaxed, so happy; he could tell her mood immediately by the way she rushed him with a hug.

He leaned over the bar as she finished an order for a customer, nursing his pro-bono drink.

“Ok, you’re a bartender for now, but they really hired you as a bouncer, right?” he asked the petite blond. She cocked a grin.

“You know it.” She set down the drink she made for her customer before flouncing back to Dean’s part of the counter.

“How you and Ellen doing?”

“Ma’s good. She’s glad to have a stove again, she really hated cooking over a fire. Been fixing up our apartment the way we want it, and they gave her a management job here… which is how I got hired, I’m not going to lie,” Jo said sheepishly.

“So, you…” she started, leaning against the counter like they were teenagers again and she was about to whisper that she’d kissed some boy her mom had forbidden her to see. “I saw the housing sign-up sheet. You put Castiel down as your mate.”

Dean nodded slowly, his stomach twisting.

“You don’t smell mated yet, though.” Jo cocked her head to the side and leaned against her fist, sniffing delicately at the air. “We gonna have to throw you a mating ceremony in the near future?”

Dean’s immediate urge was to _hell no_  his way out of that suggestion, make an excuse and leave his half-finished beer before she knew what hit her. He didn’t. He stilled the nervous tick in his leg and huffed a tense sigh before replying, “Maybe, once things have settled down a bit. Why, you got a problem with him?”

Dean had expected Jo to mock him, or at least question his very alpha choice of mate, but instead she grabbed at his hands and met his eyes,

“Congrats, Winchester.”

Dean sat back a little on his stool, surprised. Jo curled her fingers around his until they were holding hands.

“Honestly, always kinda thought we would end up… well, it doesn’t matter now. You guys seem… I like the way you look at each other.”

Dean watched their intertwined hands, watched Jo trace his knuckles wistfully with her other hand. Jo was beautiful, funny, smart, and she was another omega, which meant truckloads less inner turmoil and potential future frustration. A safer, easier life choice, even if the likelihood of their conceiving a child together was less than nothing. Plus, Dean had definitely thought about her in the shower more than once so attraction was no issue.

But she wasn’t Cas.

“You really don’t have a problem with him?” Dean ventured. In the spectrum of alpha hate from the refugees Jo had seemed pretty far to one side.

“Why would I?”

“Come on, Jo. I’ve heard you and Kevin talk, I know what you guys call alphas. I know how you think.”

Jo laughed a little, though Dean was completely serious. He tried to sound nonchalant, but honestly her opinion mattered a great deal to him.

“I’ve got no problem with an alpha who can take orders from an omega like Cas does from you. You two are more than alpha and omega; you’re friends. You trust each other.” Jo smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

“‘K.” Dean couldn’t say anything else. He choked on the nerves clogging his throat and squeezed Jo’s hand back.

“If you need a ceremony planner…” Jo cocked a finger at him with a wink, “don’t call me. I can take charge of the caterers, but that’s about it. Talk to mom, she’s surprisingly obsessed with weddings. Oh, also Kevin, I think.”

“‘K,” Dean repeated, a nervous smile on his lips. He wiped his sweating hand on his jeans when Jo released it. “Kevin likes planning weddings?”

“I mean, he likes playing cello and the other day I saw him arranging the flowers in his windowsill, so maybe? At the very least, he can provide classy music for when you’re tying hands and all that romantic stuff.”

“He’s gotta find a cello first,” Dean muttered, still reeling from Jo’s apparent unconditional support, and the fact that he was actually going along with this conversation.

“He just rented one. He’s been serenading mom and I through the walls at night. It’d give him something to practice for, anyway. Honestly, it’d be great for the camp’s morale, to christen our move with a celebration. A new start for everyone.” Jo drifted away to help another customer, leaving Dean thinking about things he somehow had never thought of before they came out of Jo’s mouth.

 

 

Dean came home to salad.

_Salad._

“Uh-uh, no way. You better have something more substantial hiding in the kitchen.” He physically backed away from the giant bowl of leafy greens in the center of the small table in one corner of the one-room apartment, tripping over the door stop as he did.

“I do.” Cas grinned, wiping his hands on a dishtowel by the sink. He picked up two plates his body had hidden from Dean’s sight. “But you need vitamins on the side of your burger.”

“Burgers have tomato and lettuce,” Dean pointed out, considerably more cheerful.

“ - and bacon and cheese,” Cas continued for him, smiling as he placed a plate with the food in question on the table in front of Dean’s usual chair.

“Bacon cheeseburgers?” Dean gaped, his mouth watering from the thought. “But we don’t have much bacon left, I thought we agreed to save it until one of us found a job?” He could hardly believe he was complaining that Cas made him a bacon cheeseburger. Complaining. Ugh, why did Cas even want to mate a shithead like him?

“We’re celebrating. I was offered a position managing the omega reintegration, as were you.”

Dean’s stomach sank at his words.

“I don’t think they’re going to be pleased with the idea of an alpha in control of their new lives,” he said immediately.

“I’m only overseeing a small part of it, the military relations with the U.S. Apparently they’re demanding Canada send red rover back over, but the Canadians are tired of putting up with their childish games. It’s more of a struggle for power than a struggle for omegas, honestly. They want you to be the Director of Housing here, with free rent for the duration of your job and a stipend for food and living expenses. We’ll move into a larger apartment if you accept.”

Dean sat down at the table, a rush of emotions overtaking him. Cas looked excited as he took his seat next to Dean.

“What do you think? What’s your initial gut reaction?” Cas queried, his hand grabbing absently at Dean’s on the table. Dean was reminded of how Jo had held his hand in the bar, how it had stirred nerves in him. Cas’s grasp did the opposite; it calmed some of his conflicting emotions and gave him space to think.

“Honestly, it sounds like I’d be a glorified house mom.”

Cas laughed, and Dean started at the sound. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Cas laugh so openly.

“Well, you would, but you’d be paid to do so. You’d be doing pretty much exactly what you did in the woods—looking out for them, making sure they’re taken care of and checking in with how they’re adapting to life here. They expect you to resolve any disputes and work to dispel tension between native alphas and omegas and our camp.”

“Oh?” Dean cocked an eyebrow, suspicious at that description.

“They were partly motivated to offer us our positions by our harmonious living situation. They think you’d be well suited to convince the omegas in your camp to give the alphas here a chance.”

Dean’s skin pricked up with goosebumps at the all too familiar idea.

“I’m not going to pimp out my camp,” Dean growled, instantly on the offense. He’d seen enough alpha propaganda in the States… he knew how they tried to appear harmless, tried to weasel omegas onto their side and make it sound like a good idea, like it was in the omegas’ best interest.

Cas sat back, his expression cooling somewhat from his excitement before.

“It didn’t sound like that was their intention, but obviously if that becomes the case we can always leave and go back on the run, Dean, as you and I did before. Let’s give it a shot. They’re trying very hard to appear harmless, to submit to our desires despite the fact that we showed up at their doorstep as homeless refugees.”

Dean almost growled in frustration as he leaned forward on the table.

“I don’t want to owe them anything, Cas. That’s how they start to guilt you, start to put you under their yolk. I’m not anyone’s bitch, and I won’t make my people into anyone’s bitch.”

“Dean.” Cas grabbed at his hand again, but this time Dean shook him off, pulling away to a spark of hurt in Cas’s eyes. “I know your instinct is not to trust, but please—do you understand how difficult it is for alphas to relinquish their claim on power? To submit like this? They’re putting you in the highest position possible instead of trying to force one of their own in there, which they would be within their rights if they wanted considering we’re using all their housing and food for free right now. Look at all they’ve done and asked for nothing in return.” Something about Cas’s earnest, angry face caught in Dean and he realized this was about more than a job position. It shifted Dean’s feelings considerably, and butterflies—evil, razor-winged, demonic butterflies—started in his stomach.

“Do they need an answer from me right now?” Dean asked slowly.

Cas sat back, pulling his hand from across the table and clenching it as Dean saw him compose himself, pull his stoic mask back over his emotions.

“They said you have a week,” Cas said, looking away from him.

“A week, huh?” Dean mused. He pushed his burger away, the loss of appetite hitting him suddenly and powerfully. “So soon?” Dean asked.

Cas froze before he caught Dean’s eyes. It was silent in their apartment, and Dean had a thousand things to say, but he didn’t say any of them.

“They need to fill the position. There’s a lot of work to do immediately,” Cas said, his voice a low timber. He wet his lips with his pink tongue and looked away from Dean again, studying his own shoes. “I, as you know, have never placed a time limit on my offer.”

Dean relaxed, but just barely. Cas was still tense in his silence, and Dean felt like he was watching a tiger as it hissed and backed up against a wall, cornered.

Cas rose gracefully, leaving his burger on the table, and walked to the door. He paused with his hand on the knob and turned, almost hesitantly, to face Dean fully.

“My offer may not have an expiration date, but I would like to know sooner rather than later if you are unable to even consider it seriously. Perhaps you have prejudices you’ll never be able to overlook. If I’m just wasting my time, if my affection is just a convenient pastime for you, I’d rather hear it now instead of years down the line of pining after you with false hope.”

Dean thought he heard an overly polite “please enjoy your burger,” mumbled before Cas closed the door after himself.

 

Cas didn’t come home that night, and Dean spent a lot of time thinking about what else he could be doing. He thought about Cas at a bar, drinking until Meg looked like a great option. He wondered if maybe Cas did this to punish him, to show him how he has no claim on him, no reason to complain if he sleeps with someone else. And Dean didn’t; he’d never said anything, never confirmed the alpha’s declarations of intent in any way. They just lived together, and fucked sometimes… and made each other food in painfully domestic ways.

He hated it. He hated lying awake with images of Cas with his knot in some nameless other, fucking them the way he did Dean - the same euphoric face, cupping their jaw in that tender way, fisting their hair and pulling their chin up just to see the submissive line of their neck.

When Dean finally drifted off to sleep he was assaulted with vivid, Technicolor images of his fears, but in these Cas maliciously smiled over at him while he thrust into his partner, enjoying the open look of misery on Dean’s face.

In his dreams he could yell and scream, though—pull the two apart and threaten the omega if he ever came sniffing around his mate again. But then he turned to Cas and he didn’t want him. He shoved him away to return to the other omega, the faceless, nameless one who was better than Dean simply because he wasn’t Dean.

When he woke up in the morning, there was no warm body next to him, no alpha contentment in the air to suffuse his body with a lovely morning buzz; just the ruffled bed sheets and the pristine apartment that was big enough for one person, even if it was too small for two.

Dean got ready for the day even though he still had nothing to do. He made himself breakfast with eggs and milk and sat at the table by himself to eat in silence.

Then he lied back in bed; he’d already applied to every store for which he was qualified. He had plans to have rough sex with Cas all day and lie around naked, but obviously those were all shot to hell now. Well, Cas was probably keeping them, just not with him.

He wondered about Cas’s partner for the night: a local? Meg? Daphne? Considering the level of interest he’d sparked when he came to the camp at first, he wouldn’t be lacking in options.

Dean wished he could fall back asleep so he could avoid all these thoughts, but instead he stared at the ceiling and oozed misery into the air.

He was pathetic. Dean wasn’t the jealous type, he never had been, over anyone - especially someone he wasn’t even dating.

Eventually he sat up and realized there were a thousand other things he could be doing, helping people who actually needed him.

He spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking from apartment to apartment, gathering signatures from omegas who had managed to find jobs and could pledge to donate part of their paycheck to Andrea for the month. Dean had been by to visit her a few times, and her mate withdrawal was horrible, much worse than his petty pining over Cas. She couldn’t get out of bed, her hair was thinning-- she smelled like the definition of grief.

Ellen spent half her time with her and half her time with Jo, and when Ellen wasn’t there Jody stayed with her and took care of her. Both omegas had been through mate withdrawal, so they knew what she needed. Dean could barely stand the horrible, achingly sad smell of her apartment, so he had to limit his visits to short periods of time. He knew there was no way she was going to get to a job in the next month, and this was one way he could help.

Of course, if he had a job of his own he could help her even more.

When he walked back to his own apartment for lunch and sniffed at the air, the only traces of alpha were stale from yesterday. Cas hadn’t returned yet.

Dean slammed his clipboard down on the table and threw his boots from his feet. A frustrated, whiny sigh bubbled from his throat before he caught himself. He never used to whine like that before he met Cas. His voice was almost as deep as the alpha’s, a low rumble of a manly-man sound, but he turned into a whimpering puppy when he breathed in that alpha scent.

Cooking for himself was far less satisfying than cooking for two. He packaged up the leftovers and shoved them in the fridge with a childish slam of the door.

 

Dean got home that night, sniffed around, and threw himself on the bed, clothes and shoes and all. Still no Cas.

He tore his pants and shirt off and kicked his shoes to the ground. He pulled Cas’s pillow to his nose and inhaled deeply, settling some of the unrest in his stomach.

Jo hammered him with wedding questions at the bar when he stopped by, and he eventually snapped at her when she asked why he wasn’t as responsive to them as the day before. He was buzzed from complimentary best friend drinks, drunk enough to not fully think through sleeping naked. Dean preferred to sleep naked, but camping in a sleeping bag in the woods, or in a cell with an alpha, weren’t exactly ideal conditions for nudity. He had an apartment to himself now, though, so why not?  He ripped his boxers off too and climbed under the covers, throwing a pillow over his eyes and begging for sleep to come. It was still light out and he hadn’t eaten a thing, but he couldn’t bear the images in his head anymore.

****

 

When he woke up the smell of alpha was everywhere: hot, spicy, good,  _so good_.

Dean didn’t think when a hot and needy mouth parted his lips and drew him into a warm, grasping body. He split his legs without a thought for the strong muscles that nudged at his knees. He blinked awake to find a knot pressing insistently to his ass and Cas’s sapphire eyes, hooded with lust, gazing down at him in a look of deep appreciation.

“Just waiting here for me like this? Trying to tempt me, Dean?” he teased. The air spiked with alpha arousal and Dean mewled after gulping down a lungful of the aphrodisiac. A fierce sensation of loss hit him and he surged forward, capturing the alpha’s lips in his and pushing up towards Cas as the alpha entered him.

Dean grabbed at Castiel, pulling him close and jamming his tongue into the alpha’s mouth in a graceless expression of desire and longing. It was the neediest Dean had let himself be in his right mind, and Castiel hesitated before he slammed against him like a wave, cresting against Dean’s own craving and cumulating in a hot, messy splash of intensity.

Castiel grabbed his hips and roughly lifted him off the bed for a deeper angle. Dean cried out as he felt Castiel spear into him completely. He planted his feet and kept himself bent and thighs spread. Cas bent over him and fisted his hair before he pulled his mouth to his, a passionate fire lit between them that had the power to burn Dean from the inside out.

Without any warning, Cas tugged his thighs up until he could rest his calves on his broad, muscled shoulders. Dean gasped at the new position, hands twisting in the sheets while he worked to take some of the strain off his shoulders as Cas pounded into him. The drag of Cas inside of him caused his mouth to water, stiffened his dick until it bobbed against his stomach and captured the alpha’s hungry gaze. Dean wasn’t body shy by any means, but the way Cas was mesmerized by his erection made him close his eyes and tilt his head back, focusing on the sensation rather than the sight.

“Dean,” Castiel’s gravelly voice incited shivers in him. A hand grabbed the back of his head roughly and pulled his head from the pillow. Dean opened his eyes in confusion, met by the alpha’s hooded, lusty expression. “Watch.”

“No.” Dean shook his head, but his eyes moved down Cas’s body to the point where the alpha disappeared into him. He stared open mouthed at the sight of himself speared open; the ripple of Cas’s abdominal muscles, the sharp curve of his hips, the slight bulge of muscle between the start of his waist and the upper reaches of his hips, the expanse of tight skin that disappeared into dark hair which was hidden mostly by his own bobbing erection. How his thighs were spread so eagerly around Cas’s body.

Dean’s orgasm ripped through him, sticky white liquid splattering along his chest and chin.

Cas slowed his pace and leaned over Dean’s body as the waves of pleasure wracked him. Cas’s shoulders pressed Dean’s thighs even further apart, until Dean was curled under him, helpless to the alpha when he dipped his tongue into his mouth at the same time he pushed back inside his hole.

Dean moaned against the tongue exploring his mouth, and Cas’s hips slowed even more into smooth and sensual, a gentle roll that ignited pleasure on the tail end of Dean’s orgasm.

Cas reached between Dean’s thigh and his own chest to pinch at Dean’s nipple, drawing an arching, stuttering moan from the omega. The alpha stiffened inside of him at the sound. Dean imagined the alpha’s cock pouring semen into his pseudo womb… maybe Cas wasn’t the only one with a slight mating kink; that thought milked one last wave of pleasure from him.

Dean panted as Cas collapsed against his chest, sweat and semen gluing their bodies to each other.

Dean found himself holding Cas to his chest tightly, slowly sliding his cramping legs off his shoulders so he could wind his arms around his strong body. He pressed his thighs against Cas’s hips; he didn’t ever want to let the alpha up.

Cas didn’t speak as he recovered n Dean’s arms, and Dean didn’t think much of burying his nose in Cas’s hair, just behind his ear where the spicy, delicious smell swelled to its strongest.

“Dean,” a pleasant rumble roused Dean from his post-coital haze, “I missed you.”

“Missed you,” Dean replied immediately, mumbling against his partner’s damp neck.

“You did?” Cas asked, a hopeful note to his question that didn’t register with Dean immediately.

“‘Course,” Dean mumbled, his eyelids already drooping. “Love you, baby.”

Cas’s body stiffened over him, but the warmth didn’t move away so nothing disrupted his painless drift into sleep.

Dean woke to sweet morning light and the soft sound of a not quite snore at his ear. Everything was pleasantly warm, though when he moved he found unpleasant stickiness in places he preferred clean.

“Hey,” Quiet, gravelly. Dean breathed deeply and shifted to look the alpha in his drooping eyes.

“Hey you,” he replied. With no idea why, but also no thought of why not, he stroked a finger along the curve of Cas’s ear.

“You want breakfast?”

“Yes please.”

“I’ll have waffles.”

Dean groaned, a grin on his lips.

“Alright,” he acquiesced. He moved to get up, but the arm Cas had slung over his chest tightened.

“Not yet.”

Dean stopped struggling and relaxed into their sleeping positions, turning his head so he could down more lungfulls of alpha spice. Cas’s hand came up to touch and play with his hair, trailing gently along the side of his face.

“You fell asleep last night,” he mumbled into Dean’s shoulder.

“I do that.”

“We were talking,” Cas clarified with a smile Dean felt against his skin.

“We were?” Dean blinked at the ceiling, straining his memory. The moment was so perfect, and yesterday had been so shitty simply because Cas wasn’t around - he was reluctant to try to recall a moment that might not have been as happy, especially if it led to Cas leaving again. No, he couldn’t have that, best not to even try. Just leave it be, whatever it was that might make Cas leave.

Cas’s fingers stilled in his hair and Dean glanced over at the alpha to better gauge his mood. His deep blue eyes opened fully now, and they trailed over Dean’s face before they flicked away from him.

“It was nothing important.”

“Good, because I was way out of it. Sorry if I said something, you know, dumb.”

“No,” Cas replied quietly. Dean detected the faintest trace of sadness in the air and mentally cursed his sleep-loosened tongue.

“I’m sorry, whatever I said.”

“You said nothing wrong,” Cas shook his head minutely. His fingers started to play with Dean’s hair again, which Dean took as a good sign. He moved closer, wrapped his arm around Cas’s middle, and kissed the alpha unhurriedly.

Cas smiled when he leaned back. Dean had seen Cas smile so rarely - most situations they’d been in so far called for gravity and that seemed to be Cas’s predisposition anyway - that his smile was almost breathtaking.

“So, should I bring up what we were fighting about, or would that be a grievance punishable by death?” Cas started jokingly, his smile fading.

Dean squirmed uncomfortably, but felt confident that nothing could diminish the high of having Cas next to him again, even bringing up their fight.

“I took the job already, called them yesterday. You left the number on the pad by the fridge, so…”

The transformation that came over Cas startled Dean. He pounced on Dean without any reservations, kissing him thoroughly as he covered his body with his own. Dean was a mushy ball of warm, gooey sap and he loved every second of his alpha’s joy.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dean pulled his lips away almost comically, moving his head farther away as Cas chased after his escaped mouth. “We’re gonna be coworkers.”

Cas shifted immediately into business mode, somehow, even though he was still naked and on top of Dean.

“I’m not sure I thought this through,” he said, his voice a grave rumble as his eyebrows drew together.

“What?” Dean muttered, searching his face for signs of an oncoming joke. He found none.

“What if we are not compatible in the workplace?” Cas sat back on Dean’s hips, and Dean would have found the new position very pleasing if not for their conversation.

“You kidding me right now?” Dean asked, confused beyond measure at Cas’s grave expression.

“Perhaps we should back out.”

Dean stared. Cas stared. Neither of them moved.

Then it cracked.

“Of course I’m joking. Can’t you tell?”

“Oh.” No, Dean could not tell, but he didn’t mention that as Cas leaned in for another enthusiastic kiss. Apparently Cas sucked in the jokes department, but that was ok. It was all ok. He loved Cas for a thousand other reasons and - 

 _Aw, shit_. Loved. _Fuck_.

 


	5. Mates

Dean’s job ended up being a lot more paperwork than his “job” in the woods, but he enjoyed working with people he knew. Plus, he did get to work with Cas, though Cas spent a great deal of time behind a desk too, writing things and stamping things and emailing people. That desk was far from Dean, miles away in fact, and though they chatted about work things on the phone almost daily, he didn’t see him in person very often. Cas had to take the bus to work for a few days before the government loaned him a “company” car. Dean worked in a small, recently constructed office (he even got to pick his own secretary, which Jo volunteered for part-time) a block from their own apartment. His government liason, other than Cas, was Chuck, a twitchy omega who looked constantly sick when he stopped by once a week to meet with Dean in person, but Dean liked him well enough nonetheless.

They moved into the bigger apartment and went shopping. Cas bought a whole slew of funny shaped tea strainers with his first paycheck, much to Dean’s complete and utter surprise. He’d expected nothing but regiment practicality from the soldier’s shopping trip, and while Cas did return with Draino for the shower and three containers worth of Dean’s favorite scented laundry detergent, he also carried an entire bag of various loose-leaf tea strainers and packages upon packages of local loose-leaf tea- and honey. God, so much honey: local, regional, raw, processed. He set them carefully next to each other on the counter, alphabetized.

Dean watched in fascination as Cas boiled a pot of water, sat outside on the small deck, in an old rocking chair that came with the apartment, and carefully poured one of his assortments of local tea concoctions into a bee shaped loose-leaf tea strainer. Then the alpha watched the sunset in silence, occasionally swirling the bee strainer.

Ellen came to the apartment before Cas got home at night and planned the wedding with Dean (well, for him because he was incapable of doing more than yaying or naying her suggestions). Ellen insisted they set up a celebration fund. Ellen argued that the celebration wouldn’t just be for Dean and Cas but for everyone, a celebration for the start of a new life for everyone. Dean was reluctant at first, but people were almost as enthusiastic about committing part of their paycheck to the party as they were to Andrea’s mourning fund.

Against all recommendations, he kept the marriage planning secret from, and asked others not to tell, Cas.

 

Months passed until the day Dean walked outside to the purr of an engine, expecting Cas on his way back from his office, and found a strange white minivan in the driveway. It wasn't Cas’s normal car, but maybe he’d needed to return the rental for some reason or another. It certainly didn’t resemble any of the omega rebels new vehicles.

He blinked in the summer sun, the glare on the windshield of the car too much to see beyond to the passenger inside. Nothing could have prepared him for the long, gangly legs that appeared from out the driver’s side, followed by a familiar torso and… Sam.

With an unpleasant jolt of adrenaline, Dean stopped, backed up a step, and steeled himself, for what he wasn’t sure. Sam stood outside his car door with a strange expression as he let Dean take in his presence.

Though summer lent a balmy warmth to the air, Dean felt ice in his veins. A thousand questions swarmed through his brain at once, but Dean’s mouth refused to work, refused to break the chilly silence between them.

No, he had nothing to say to Sam. No arguments, no accusations, just the harsh reality of a betrayal they could never mend.

“Dean.” Dean almost winced at the sound of his brother’s voice, a voice that had once meant comfort and family and love. His body still reacted to him as though he were all of those things. He was supposed to protect Sam, always—listen to him, care for him, tend to his needs and treat him like his own pup. His father used to say it was good training for when he was a house omega, as was expected of most omegas before the revolution.

“Why are you here?” Dean demanded, roughing and deepening his voice almost in protest to the omega instincts that called for him to sweep his baby brother into a hug and scent him to make sure he was healthy.

“Dean, please, can’t we just—”

“No,” Dean cut him off, his lips twitching into a bitter smile. “No, we can’t. We never can, Sam.”

Sam licked his lips, parted them again, but nothing came out. For a man who had no trouble spewing rhetoric and political theory at Dean only a few months before when he was gagged and handcuffed, on his knees between two alpha guards, his indecision now was… confusing.

“Alright. Alright, you hate me.” Sam visibly deflated, his chest slumping as he hung his head. His brother was a good three or more inches taller than him, but Dean still saw a little kid in that familiar gesture, a kid pouting because Dean took away his favorite toy until he finished his dinner.

“Wouldn’t you?” Dean asked, wondering briefly if his brother was even capable of putting himself in Dean’s position if he believed half of that “alpha’s should lead and make decisions, and omega’s should follow quietly” bullshit from out of his own mouth.

“Yes.”

Dean crossed his arms across his chest, reeling at his brother’s confirmation. He remembered what Cas had said about the military threatening Sam’s family, threatening Jessica, and he wondered… but it ached too much to get his hopes up, so Dean waited mercilessly for Sam to take the lead in the conversation again, trying to make himself appear as stoic as possible.

The alpha straightened his military uniform, glancing nervously at the car. The glare of the sun was bright, so Dean had no idea what he was looking at. He realized how stupid he’d been. What was inside that car? Who was inside? Had Sam brought weapons, or soldier backup to kidnap Dean and transport him back across the border, negotiations with Canada and Cas be damned? Maybe they were through trying to cut through the political ropes and claim their omegas via the proper channels, and Cas was definitely making it as difficult as possible for them to make any legal claim on the omegas. Maybe they’d thrown caution to the wind, and decided to use Dean’s weakness for Sam once again to take him down once and for all.

Sam made a hand gesture and Dean tensed, already searching for all possible exits and objects he could use as weapons against a group of alpha soldiers trained to take him down fast and silent.

He was reaching for a bizarre but heavy bumblebee lawn ornament Cas picked out at a garage sale a few weeks ago when the second biggest surprise of the last few minutes stepped out of the passenger side door.

He recognized the golden curls almost immediately. Jessica’s presence was a relief, but the way she toddled sort of gracelessly, a hand on the car for stability even though she was doing nothing harder than walking in a straight line, struck Dean as odd. Then she cleared the front of the car and his first thought was that she’d put on weight, and that too was odd, considering she was Sam’s same brand of overachieving health nut who ate more salads than could possible be good for her and who considered triathalons “fun”.

It clicked for Dean far too slowly.

“Please,” Sam said again, and this time Dean was too stunned to shut him down. Sam stepped closer to his mate, linking his hand in hers. Jessica’s other hand came to rest on her slightly bulging stomach, at which Dean couldn’t stop himself staring. “Please, give me a chance to explain, Dean.”

“You’re pregnant,” Dean surmised dumbly. Jessica nodded, her lovely features twisted in distress, which in turn twisted Dean’s stomach. He didn’t have the heart to turn down the two of them when they looked at him like that, no matter what was between them.

With a motion, he welcomed them inside his house.

 

Jessica sipped at some of Cas’s regional tea - a Honeybush Rooibus Citrus from Special Teas Inc. - and relaxed in the one comfy chair Dean and Cas owned while Sam recounted his story to Dean at the dining table. Dean couldn’t sit out of nerves, so instead he opted to pace the room as Sam shook down everything he’d told himself to believe in the past year.

Whenever Jessica chimed in, he couldn’t help but look at her with a desire to do everything he could to protect her. There was an old saying that omega males made the best mates, as they could understand the burden of pregnancy, the instincts of motherhood, as well as fatherhood. Dean definitely felt every bit of that connection when he watched the scared tick of Jessica’s fingers on her teacup and the way her words rushed out of her mouth.

“At first it was just about you. When I reported Jessica’s pregnancy, they told me that if I didn’t help them catch you, they would take the child away. They couldn’t let disloyal rebels parent one of the precious few children in our nation.”

“We didn’t want to hurt you, Dean. You have to believe us. We knew the chances of an alpha/alpha pregnancy when we got married. We knew better than to hope for it, but when it happened… I can’t think of anything that’s ever made me happier. We felt so blessed, and after listening to all the propaganda on the alpha side these last few years, we felt like we were contributing to rebuilding the world after the war. Nothing could compare to our happiness when we found out.”

“You have to try to understand where we were coming from. To never expect a child from your mate, and then, suddenly be blessed?”

“You wanted children and you chose your mate. I didn’t,” Dean objected immediately, his temper flaring despite the pregnancy hormones filling his house; they spun his head and placated most of his more intense emotions.

“Dean, I’m not trying to justify my actions, only explain them.” Sam put his hands down and averted his eyes in a very un-alpha like expression of submission. Dean’s temper cooled to curiosity at the alien gesture of respect from his brother.

“It was harder for me to understand why you would go so far as to run away from your family, life and job just to avoid conceiving, especially when it seemed like nothing but a gift to me. So when they finally caught you—”

“—because you told them what to expect from me—”

“—because I led them to you, yes,” Sam agreed almost patiently, which enflamed Dean’s temper again though he stayed silent this time. “When they caught you, they informed me you had forfeited your chance to choose your own mate when you ran from the ordinance, and now they would provide one for you. That seemed reasonable to me.”

“Oh?” Dean stopped pacing to direct his full glare at Sam. “It seemed  _reasonable_  to you?” he parroted, lacing the words with as much venom as he could manage.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said quietly, adopting that same submissive gesture that threw Dean completely off guard. Ever since Sam had been old enough to pop a knot, he’d challenged Dean’s authority, established his dominance as the second alpha of the family. Dean accepted his superiority, and he even let him pin him and hold him down with a bite to his neck a few dozen times. It humiliated him as the older and then stronger of the two, but that was just how things were done and how they’d always been done in every family he knew. Normal.

“So after you decided it was alright to throw me, shackled and defenseless, in a room to be raped by a random convict I’d never met, what happened then?” Dean asked, his voice rising as the reality of the situation crashed down around him. Screw the pregnancy hormones and their weird emotional buzz, why had Dean ever let these two in his house? His beautiful, new apartment, filled with the smell of the only alpha who would  _never_  in a million years—

Dean heard the doorknob jingle and couldn’t believe he hadn’t processed the sound of Cas’s car outside until that moment.

Cas’s eyes widened as he took in the visitors. Dean opened his mouth to explain when he heard,

“Castiel.”

Dean turned slowly and, yeah... Sam recognized Cas. So he knew the name and face of the man he’d thrown him in a cell with. So he cared that tiny smidge. Didn’t matter. Didn’t change the magnitude of his actions.

“Sam.”

This time Dean twisted quickly, unable to believe that his brother’s name had just come from Cas’s mouth until he saw the look of recognition on his future mate’s face.

 

“You know him?” Dean demanded immediately, pointing over his shoulder. Cas nodded mutely, his eyes still wide as a hint of fear crept into his expression. He seemed to realize he’d just done something horrific. “How do you know my brother? Did you meet in the military?” Dean’s mind was racing with possibilities. It was a struggle to push down the more paranoid assumptions, the ones he would have believed immediately before Cas.

“I didn’t realize he was your brother. You never told me your brother’s name.”

“I’m sure I mentioned it, at some point.”

Cas shook his head.

“No, you always called him ‘brother’. I assumed you didn’t want to talk about him, given your history, so I didn’t bring it up.”

Dean stared. Everything about this situation felt uncomfortable, insidious.

“How do you know him, Cas?” Dean repeated. Cas’s features twisted with a twinge of fear again and he looked at Sam instead.

“So they brought back that old tradition? Can’t imagine why these people would want to leave so badly.”

Sam was silent. Dean looked between them, already angry and getting angrier by the second. Who the  _hell_  did they think they were, trading cryptic messages right in front of him?

“Someone better start talking quick.” Dean slammed his hand down on the table. Jessica jumped, eyeing him fearfully. He almost apologized— he could smell her fear in the air—but he was done being an alpha toy and he wasn’t apologizing to anyone for it.

Sam wrung his hands together in his lap before he shifted with a sigh.

“I didn’t exactly send you into a room with a... ‘random convict’, as you thought. I was allowed to pick your mate.”

Dean didn’t know why this surprised him to the extent that it did, but his jaw fell open. The world spun as his rage mounted, and if it weren’t for Jessica’s scent and presence he definitely would have clocked Sam right then and there. As it was, he just clenched his fist at his side and imagined slamming it into Sam’s jaw.

“Of course you were,” he scoffed at Sam before he rounded on Castiel. “Why didn’t you tell me about the interviewing process? Did they show you my picture?” Dean asked, his voice quiet as he tried to contain his rage, for Jessica, for his poor niece or nephew, though he wasn’t sure whether in that moment he wished more that they wouldn’t be an omega or that they wouldn’t be an alpha. “Did he ask you questions to make sure we’d be a good fit before  _he_   _gave me to you_?”

It was too quiet in the apartment. Jessica’s fear was tangible in Dean’s mouth, and Sam’s mixture of sorrow and pain were things Dean didn’t want to acknowledge, just as Cas’s guilt softened him when he didn’t want to be softened. He wanted to be pissed, because he could, because it was still something he could decide for himself. He stalked from the living room, elbowing past Cas on his way, and slammed the door behind him just as Cas had done in their first big fight. He saw why it was so satisfying, a wonderful way to end an invalidating and humiliating conversation, even if he did feel a bit sweet sixteen in doing so. The conversation was over because Dean decided it was over, and that gave him vindictive pleasure.

 

Dean liked the woods by their apartment. He disappeared into them when he felt too confined by his new life. Sometimes he would pitch a tent and Cas would curl up with him in one giant sleeping bag.

They liked to go through their heats and ruts out in the woods where they could be as loud as they wanted and usually no one heard (though that did lead to an awkward, mostly naked conversation with the Canadian park rangers one night).

If Dean really wanted to shut Cas out, he could have gone elsewhere. It was one of the first places Cas would look for him. He wasn’t sure what he wanted, whether he wanted to talk to Cas or avoid him, so he wandered around the woods in confusion. He didn’t cry, Dean couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried outside of his recent heats, but seeing his brother shook him.

Cas found him not thirty minutes later, sniffing the air as he approached. Dean was busy brooding on his choice of log. Cas stopped a few feet away, awkwardly looking around for a few moments.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

Dean almost snapped at him to leave him alone, but his desire for answers overwhelmed his anger.

“Why now? Why didn’t you earlier?” Dean demanded, glaring at him. He broke a twig he’d been absent-mindedly playing with and tossed it to the ground.

“I know you think I was complicit in your violation, but there was nothing voluntary about my participation. They chained me to a chair, and Sam asked me questions through a glass. I never saw your picture, I never gave consent for our situation. Most of the questions were about where I’d gone to school, my test scores, what kind of genetic diseases ran in my family, that sort of thing. He doesn’t look like you, so when I did finally see you I didn’t suspect a familial relationship.”

“The kind of questions you’d see on a sperm donation form? Awesome,” Dean mumbled into his palm, staring at the ground as he imagined punching Sam over and over again. Maybe he would, on one of Jessica’s many bathroom breaks. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

Cas squatted in front of him, thoughtfully staring into the distance. Dean wondered if he’d lowered himself to the ground on purpose in an act of submission, putting Dean above him.

“He asked me other things, and in retrospect I should have immediately suspected he was family. He asked me what kind of music I preferred, and whether I liked burgers. He asked me why I was in chains. Those were the questions you might ask a potential mate, not a sperm donor.”

“What a hypocrite. You refused to do exactly what he did,” Dean snarled, his voice catching in his throat despite his attempts to keep it level. Cas lowered his gaze to the ground.

“I may have refused to rape, but I did spread my share of horror in my service. I killed. I tortured for information more than once. Usually I justified it to myself because they were the bad guys and I was the hand of justice. It became more and more apparent that I was taking orders from the side of corruption and power abuse, not against it. Your brother justified his actions to himself at the time using similar methods, but he’s come before you to admit the error of his ways, which is more than what most people who use their position of power over others ever do for those they’ve hurt. I wish you would give him one more chance. He will admit he was wrong, which makes his evil more unintentional than you previously thought.”

Cas reached for him, edging his hand onto Dean’s knee. Dean let it stay.

 

 

Dean couldn’t bring himself to look his brother in the eye for several hours, but talking with Cas calmed him down considerably. A part of him hated that Sam had, indeed, chosen a compatible mate for him, but it would be silly to take that out on Cas and himself at this point. His brother knew him well, so of course he could guess at what Dean might like in a mate.

Eventually Cas persuaded him to wander back to their apartment. They found Sam cleaning the kitchen, an achingly familiar sight for Dean. Jessica was nowhere to be found, but the car was still parked out front so Dean assumed she was resting in the bedroom. When Dean and Cas walked in Sam lowered his eyes and hands in that same gesture of submission that threw Dean off, except this time he went so far as to bow his head and sink to his knees. Dean watched, stunned but trying not to show it, as his brother bent into a prostrate form, tucked his head between his shoulders, and showed the back of his neck, the ultimate display of submission.

He’d never seen his brother submit like that for anyone, even their father.

“I regret what I did to you. I can never erase my actions, but I hope you can forgive them. I beg you to forgive them.” Sam’s voice was muffled in his position, but Dean heard him loud and clear. Cas squeezed his hand as Dean physically blanched at the sight of his brother submitting so completely to him, especially with the pungent, acrid smell of his feelings in the air.

“You really regret what you did?”

“Yes,” Sam whispered into the ground. Dean believed him because he could smell the evidence, and, if he was honest with himself, because he wanted to believe him. Through everything, he loved Sam, more than he’d loved any another until he met Cas. Despite his anger, and hate at times, he couldn’t rid himself of his love for his brother.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Dean hissed, “I am not  _yours_  to give away. I am not your property. I am not Cas’s property, nor will I ever be. My womb belongs to me and me alone.”

“Yes,” Sam whispered into the ground. “I understand.”

“If you ever treat me like property again, there will be no second chances, no talking. Not ever. You will leave and never try to contact me again.”

Sam lifted his head from the ground, his long bangs obscuring what looked like the beginnings of a smile.

“Second chances?” he asked faintly.

Dean crossed his arms in front of his body. “Just get up, it’s hard to even look at that,” he grunted.

Sam climbed to his knees, dusting off debris from their carpet, which was obviously in need of a good vacuuming. Specks of dust decorated his hair as well. A faint smile rested on his lips, though, and Dean almost longed for a good, old-fashioned sibling hug. They weren’t there yet, and both of them knew it.

“I hated you,” Dean said. “I hated you for what you did.”

“I know,” Sam bowed his head again.

Dean coughed, uncomfortable. “So, why did you drive all the way out here? It couldn’t have just been to apologize.”

Sam looked up, reminding Dean of their childhood dog when he’d peed on the carpet. “I need to ask for asylum.”

Dean stiffened at his brothers pained admission, and he felt Cas straighten to attention as well.

“You ran out before I could finish my story,” Sam said softly. His eyes asked Dean for permission to continue, to which Dean gave a terse nod. “Like I said before, it started with demands about you, but it grew to more. Every time I stepped out of line—asked about your whereabouts, status updates on your band of rebels—they threatened to take away our unborn child, though the seriousness of the threat depended on the offense.” Sam sighed, an undertone of anger building with his next words.

“I meant it when I said I consider this child a miracle. We won’t get another chance, and I want to protect Jessica and our child as best I can, which is regrettably what pressed me to hurt you, Dean. Many less lucky alpha couples feel similarly, and they’re forcing omegas into surrogacy. The unmated omegas are made to mate, then they take their children from them, sometimes unwillingly. They would have done the same to you if you decided you didn’t want your child, though Jessica and I were fully prepared to raise your child under that condition.”

Dean nodded stiffly. Sam didn’t sound as sorry as he had looked, but Dean remembered Sam’s penchant for facts over feeling, one that had always ruffled him. Sam could look at a situation completely rationally and remove himself from it emotionally, something Dean had never quite been able to accomplish.

“Even after the threats, we didn’t leave. We said it wouldn’t happen to us because we were alphas. We didn’t believe they would really hurt us or take our child away for the smallest offense.”

Sam glanced at Cas before he fixated on the ground.

“Then the massacres started. They took out entire omega rebel camps like yours—just gunned them down in cold blood. Even the newspapers couldn’t spin mass murder as an act of reconciliation and bridge building in the aftermath of the war.”

Dean breathed in sharply. Cas helped orchestrate other refugees’ integration, and he’d heard about the new trend of alpha brutality in the States over dinner more than once.

“I’m so sorry about Benny, Dean,” Sam whispered. Cas wrapped an arm around Dean’s shoulder and squeezed. It stung badly to think about his best friend. “He was a good man, and his death was needless. His offense was nonviolent, and the new government did not afford him the same respect. When I heard of his passing from his family, that was when I really started to question what we were doing here, and what side I was really on. We are all people, first and foremost. No matter gender, or whatever, we’re people. A basic level of respect and dignity has to come before all disagreements. The war ended not because we won, but because everyone was tired of bloodshed and violence. There was too much. We fought brothers and sisters, literally in our case, and for many the war was with former spouses and their children. You’re my family. I can’t support a side that would gun you down without a thought in what is supposed to be a time of peace.”

“That was a brave decision, Sam,” Cas’s low rumble soothed Dean’s humming nerves.

“I should have let you run, I should never have tried to bargain one innocent life for another. I knew, even at the time, that what I did to you was wrong, but I was afraid for my child and my mate. From a statistical standpoint, with the way they’re handling the aftermath of the war, the birthrate is lower in America than in Canada, and the death rate of omegas is far too high compared to their alpha counterparts. Abuse is clearly rampant, from hospital admission data, yet the government refuses to acknowledge it, and now they perpetrate mass murder in our name--”

“Ok, Sammy. I get it.” Dean held up a hand to stop his brother’s economics talk.

“I hope you can forgive me,” Sammy repeated softly.

Dean struggled with his conflicting feelings before he was able to speak again. He could see, and smell, how sincerely the alpha meant what he said, so there was no need to ask for him to grovel. Forgiveness was another matter altogether, though. For the moment Sam would have to settle for grudging indifference. “We have a few empty apartments here you can choose from. I’m assuming, since you ran, that everything you own is in that van outside?”

Sam nodded slowly.

“I hacked into a database to find out where you were. I knew they would come after us, so we left everything we could and packed up last night.”

“There are a few sticking points, some documents you need to sign, but for the most part you can move in right away once we find an apartment you like. You can stay here tonight, Cas and I have somewhere else we can go.”

Cas nodded. “We have a tent,” he explained needlessly. Dean winced when Sam’s mouth twisted down.

“I can’t kick you out of your own house. I can sleep in the tent, maybe Jessica can sleep in that comfy chair.”

“Oh, no; we enjoy our tent,” Cas clarified. Dean could feel his face burn as Sam looked between them, processing, and Cas’s arm curled closer around Dean. He saw the flicker of “oh” in his brother’s face before he nodded minutely.

 

 

Sam and Jess picked out an apartment the next day and Dean spent the day helping them move. Jess got tired easily, and when she lay down on the couch that came with the apartment and caught Dean staring at her exposed stomach, she asked him if he wanted to touch it.

Dean set his box down and knelt next to her. He rubbed his hand gently over her smooth skin, but no tiny feet thumped against his hands. Still, something in him quieted and hummed in appreciation as he realized his niece or nephew was under his hands, under his protection. Before they betrayed him, Sam and Jess were a constant presence in his life; sometimes a bossy, overly-alpha presence, and sometimes a kind, caring net to catch him when his life was shitty. They’d eaten meals together, cried together, laughed together, and fought constantly. He’d forged his own family in the woods, but blood family still meant something meaningful, especially to his baser instincts.

“Sam wants to name it after your father.”

“He does?” Dean gaped at her.

Jess laughed, a sweet sound. “Yeah, it surprised me too. I think he misses him more than he lets on, even though they could barely be in the same room together without clashing over something.”

“Sam was ready to be on his own before he could walk,” Dean commented lightly. “Dad wasn’t great at accepting that.” Dean still seemed unable to retrieve his hand from her stomach. Jessica didn’t seem to mind though; she placed her hand over Dean’s, smiling warmly at him.

“What do you want to name it?”

“Maybe after my grandmother, or my mother.” Jess patted his hand. “I’m in charge if it’s a girl, your brother’s in charge if it’s a boy.”

“I like the idea of keeping a family name.” Dean nodded. “Sam was named after our grandfather.”

Jess smiled, and Dean almost smiled back. He forced himself to pull his hand away, thoughts of his niece or nephew heavy on his mind. That warm, fuzzy instinctual buzz started to fade almost immediately. It drifted away completely as he stood from the ground and finished moving the box he’d set down before.

There was a smaller chance that the child would be an omega, but still a chance. If that turned out to be the case, Dean was glad Sam and Jess decided to make amends because Dean would be needed. Growing up the only omega in a family of two alphas had been rough, and he often wondered if his life would have been softer if his mother had been around.

Maybe, if life got a little better, if the alphas here were serious about treating them with respect… maybe he could tap into some mothering instincts of his own. He wouldn’t mind a kid that was half him and half Cas, as long as he knew they had a fighting chance at life.

 

 

Sam and Jess were moved in for a month before all the preparations were ready for their mating ceremony. That was assuming Cas said yes, which after living together for months was a pretty small assumption.

Still, as Dean waited on his knees in their tent, his heart pounded and sweat gathered on his palms. He felt like a man waiting for a shooting squad that may or may not let him escape with his life. Rationally, he knew that Cas had already asked him first, but it still seemed… risky. He was putting himself out there for Cas to break if he wanted.

Candles were everywhere, lighting up the darkness of the recently fallen night with a soft glow. Dean had found real flower petals to cover the soft blankets and pillows on the tent floor. He’d dragged Charlie’s blow-up mattress out into the tent so they wouldn’t get a crick in their neck or back that night. The flowers laced the air with a wonderful scent that somewhat relaxed Dean’s tense shoulders.

He’d told Castiel to meet him out there at nine. They’d sat through dinner, then it was Dean’s turn to clean up while Cas went outside to drink his tea and watch the sun go down.

He heard Cas’s boots crunch through the late autumn leaves on the ground.

“Dean?”

Dean heard him before he came into sight in the dark woods. His face was open and earnest, surprise etched in every line. He took in the soft glow of the hundreds of candles, his eyes widening. He stopped, absorbing the whole scene in that methodical, calm way of his.

Dean fidgeted nervously as Cas walked slowly to the lip of the tent where Dean was sitting. He carefully bent to sit on the edge of the air mattress, flower petals crumpling under his knees.

He was quiet, watching Dean with an almost inscrutable expression, though it looked like a positive one.

“Well, I suck at this,” Dean blurted out.

Cas smiled wide, and Dean thought maybe his eyes were watering.

“I think you’re doing okay,” Cas whispered, and oh god, his voice cracked. Dean was in such trouble if he started crying.

Dean drew a deep, shaky breath before he started to speak.

“I’ve thought a lot about it, and I’d like to accept your offer to mate.”

Cas nodded, still smiling.

“Why?”

Dean blanched.

“What, you want  _reasons_?”

Cas nodded again, and yes, that was a tear that slipped out the side of his eye. Dean’s insides squirmed painfully.

“You really gonna make me…?”

“Yes.” Cas smiled at him for several moments before he added in a whisper, “just this once, Dean.”

Dean fidgeted with nerves before he a drew another deep breath and met Cas’s eyes, trying his best to open himself up.

“I have a lot of baggage, especially when it comes to alphas. I don’t naturally trust people in general, but add on the fact that you’re an alpha? Sometimes it’s hard for me to trust you even now, if I’m honest. I know you were worried about that for us, but you’re more than just another alpha to me. You’re my friend, my family. I need you.” Dean took another breath, steeling himself. “I love you. I’m… I’m in love with you.”

Cas closed his eyes at the words and reached out between them, his hand cupping Dean’s cheek.

“I love you,” he replied easily, his eyes drifting slowly open. “I’ve loved you since you refused to leave me in the woods.”

Dean looked away because he wasn’t sure he could handle the intensity of Cas’s gaze. He’d said it, he’d gotten through it. He meant it, though it was hard to get out.

Cas surged forward, meeting his lips in a slow, tender kiss, exploring the planes of his face with his gentle hands. He pushed Dean back on their bed, licking into his mouth.

Dean was already pulling off his own formal shirt and kicking off his dress pants.

“No more talking?” Dean mumbled between kisses, eagerly shoving his hands up Castiel’s shirt.

“I’ve heard enough.” Cas leaned back, his eyes still shining with mostly unshed tears. “Thank you.”

He didn’t know what to expect when Cas bit him. He didn’t know if they’d feel any different afterwards, but he’d heard the act was an incredible experience. Irrationally, he was worried they were somehow broken beyond repair - that there would be no click of chemicals interlocking, no bond formed. 

Cas didn’t seem worried. He kissed all across Dean’s chest, ardently skating his hands down Dean’s hips to tug his pants the rest of the way off. Dean was busy pulling Cas’s shirt up over his head, if he could leave Dean’s chest alone for half a second.

Dean threw his head back, eyes shut tight as Cas took to his nipple like a starving animal at food. His tongue laved over the sensitive tip, alternating between sloppy kisses and fierce bites that sent jolts of pleasure through Dean.

By the time Cas got around to pushing Dean’s underwear down, Dean was already amped up and ready to go, slick leaking down between his thighs and a hard erection scraping against his belly. Cas slipped lower down Dean’s body to take Dean into his mouth, licking at his girth with the same enthusiasm he’d shown Dean’s nipple. Dean knotted his hand in Cas’s hair and thrust slowly into his mouth, the warm, wet slide, causing his mind to go blank.

Dean moaned as Cas finally slipped his fingers into Dean’s wet hole to accompany his mouth on Dean’s dick. It had taken a while, but Dean gradually grew accustomed to sex as a male omega, not just as a man. He loved the way Cas played with his ass now - he even preferred it to Cas touching his dick, which he did plenty.

Cas moaned around Dean’s cock as another wave of slick leaked from Dean and the smell of aroused omega intensified in the tent.

Next thing he knew, Cas was lapping at his ass, his tongue prodding Dean for entry. Dean spread wide for his alpha, arching his back against the bed as Cas got two fistfuls of Dean’s cheeks and practically lifted him off the air mattress with his enthusiasm. Eating him out seemed to be Cas’s favorite pastime in the bedroom.

Dean dragged Cas’s head up to meet his mouth after a few minutes, the taste of his slick on both of their lips as they met and crashed and receded from one another. Cas hummed his contentment deep in his chest, and Dean, allowing himself some sap on what would be one of the most special nights of his life, carefully put his hand over Cas’s heart to feel his alpha’s happiness.

Cas drew a deep breath and dropped his forehead to Dean’s, looking between them at Dean’s hand over his heart. He covered Dean’s hand with his own and smiled down at the union. A light sigh passed between them, though Dean wasn’t sure who it came from.

Dean secretly loved missionary style, but when there were so many other flavors to try they rarely settled on vanilla. Thankfully, this time Cas seemed in agreement with him on this position for their mating as he lay over him and nestled his hips between Dean’s parted thighs, nudging under his balls to find his wet heat. When Cas sank into him it was to a chorus of both of their satisfied, sigh-like groans.

Cas nestled his nose in the crook of Dean’s neck for his first stroke, and Dean closed his eyes to the tingling pleasure of the slide between their bodies. Cas ran his hands reverently over Dean’s sides. Dean clung to Cas’s strong, sculpted back as he moved inside of him.

Their bodies moved together in practiced symmetry. Being with Cas like this felt as natural as breathing to Dean. They traded sweet touches while they interlocked fingers.

Cas’s hot breaths on his skin sent waves of slick through him, so Dean tilted his neck to the side to give Cas better access. Castiel paused at the gesture, connecting meaningfully with Dean. Gold bled into Castiel’s eyes as Dean watched, and his lips curled back in a snarl. Omega instincts he didn’t usually pay attention to shuddered at the sight, his heartbeat kicking up as the smell of alpha desire intensified in the tent.

The frantic beating of his heart in his ears was all he heard as he broke from Cas’s gaze and purposefully arched back to expose his neck completely to his alpha.

After only a moment’s pause, Castiel’s teeth sank into Dean’s neck and Dean gasped from the shock of agony.

At first there was only pain. Then a strange new feeling surfaced in the back of his mind, one Dean could name without ever having experienced it before: mate.

He felt the idea clearly in his head: it was as though everything Castiel was, all his quirks and flaws and strengths, battered against the inside of Dean’s mind, asking for entry. It was the fact that Cas forgot to call him when he said he would, even when it was important; how Cas liked to sleep with his cheek against Dean’s chest; the impossibly sweet, sincere, and hot words Cas poured into his ears while they made love; how insecure Cas felt living in a group of omegas when he’d spent most of his life in the Alpha Army. It was strong in its desire to know Dean, but not strong enough that Dean couldn’t push it away and lock it out if he wanted. Something inside of Dean called out to that piece of Castiel in his head -- Dean felt the pull, the tug between that same kind of piece of himself. The moment of hesitation before he listened to that pull and made the decision to let Castiel in was terrifying. Once he gave in, Cas battered down his doors and washed over him. The sensation reminded Dean of the pleasant, warming burn of whisky down a parched throat, except it surged through Dean’s entire soul and awakened a deep and meaningful satisfaction.

 

So this was  _Cas_.

 

Dean had been a whole person before Castiel, but he was more than that now, though nothing about him had changed. As his vision cleared and reality came rushing back to him in great gasping breaths, the spice of mated alpha and omega on his tongue, Dean knew that Cas would never truly leave him from then on.

  

  


	6. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter seemed particularly appropriate given the Supreme Court ruling today. #Lovewins!!!!!! Let's celebrate.

Mating robes were ridiculous; long, flowing green cloth that tripped him up every time he took a step, way too many endless layers of far excessively lengthy sleeves that turned reaching for anything into a chore. Not to mention he went completely commando underneath, which was downright unnerving. Cas insisted it was tradition. Dean was suspicious of his motives -- Cas had never been big on traditional practices before -- but hey, as long as Cas was all traditional-like too he wouldn’t complain.

Cas's robes were identical to Dean's except that they were different tones of blue. Cas carried a sword, Dean carried the sheath, and the whole ceremony was an ancient penis metaphor that everyone pretended to find majestic. They tattooed each other's names over their hearts two weeks ago to give the skin time to heal before the ceremony. 

It was usually tradition that mates couldn't see each other before the ceremony, which Dean fully understood: the robes were annoying as hell, but he was pretty sure if he saw Cas in them he was going to need alone time with him immediately. 

Alas, instead of Cas bending him over a counter, Dean was tapping his foot nervously while Charlie and Kevin argued over incredibly nerdy things and ignored their one job to keep him distracted. 

"I won't read it if there aren't any dragons."

"What the fuck kind of standards are those?  It's brilliant. There's elves. You'll love it."

"Dragons or I'm out. Those are the rules."

"That you just made up."

"Damn straight."

"This isn't helping," Dean muttered. "No one cares about dragons."

"Dean, I appreciate that it's your wedding day and you're nervous as hell, but you take that back this instant," Charlie simmered, standing to brush some imaginary dust off his shoulders. "What's the deal, anyway? Stop bouncing." She steadied him with her hands on his shoulders, looking him over in a concerned way. 

"Dean, even _I_ like Cas. You're making a good choice," Kevin assured him with a sigh. Dean straightened his robe though it was already straight. 

"I know." He looked himself over in the mirror nearby, "Shut up. It's a big deal. Of course I'm nervous."

"Be excited. You're marrying your mate. You already know the darkest corners of him. I've never seen you so happy and relaxed as the day after you two did the deed," Charlie pointed out as she fussed with his hair one more time. Dean didn't have enough hair for her to fuss with, so it ended up a short distraction. 

"Is it almost time?" Dean wondered. 

"Five more minutes."

"Shit," Dean felt all the blood leave his face. He was still waiting for the excitement to kick in and replace these gut wrenching nerves. "Fuck."  
"Jesus, Dean, you're starting to make _me_ nervous," Charlie grumbled. "Why are you so freaked? You want to do this, yeah?"

"I do," Dean nodded, fairly certain his face was a shade of green now. "I'll feel better when I see him. It's fucking huge, that's all. I could... I could really fuck this up."

"You'll have us to help you not do that, though," Kevin grinned. "And have a little confidence -- you led the camp for almost a year and you were the best damn leader we could ask for."

"You remember your mission today, right?" Dean remembered suddenly. "Cas's parents won't be here because of the war."

"We'll keep him distracted and entertained. I think Kevin has a whole belly dance planned if we really need to pull out the big guns," Charlie winked at Dean.

Kevin didn't even bat an eye before he responded, "I'm not doing it alone."

"Don't worry bambi -- it won't come to that." Charlie grinned. 

"Well, I've gotta serenade you so I better go. It's gonna be fine, man." Kevin hugged Dean and squeezed his shoulders before leaving Charlie alone with him. 

"Ready to make your vows, Winchester?" Charlie asked, all mischief gone from her eyes. 

Dean nodded, still fighting off nearly unbearable butterflies. 

"Not sure I'm going to make that great of a partner is all."

"Dean Winchester, you're one of my favorite people on this planet. How dare you insult my taste. Besides, you're already mated -- the hard decisions are over. This is just a formality for your family and friends."

"Right." Dean nodded, trying to ground himself in Charlie's calm certainty. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Charlie scoffed. She checked her watch. "Kevin should be cueing you in a moment. We better get to the hall." 

 

* * *

 

Cas looked as amazing in his blue robes as Dean had pictured. Dean could just barely make out the outline of his body under all the cloth, which admittedly the robes could show off a little better. Luckily, they'd chosen just the right shade of blue to compliment his eyes. His hair had that perfectly messy look, his face newly shaved. Dean almost forgot about the giant crowd of people staring at him because he was so distracted by how hot Cas looked.

Dean had fought hard for "Fields of Gold" by Sting over some pompous classical song Cas picked out, and now he was glad for the battle because it sounded bomb on the cello. And by "bomb" he meant that he definitely wasn't tearing up with how perfect it made joining hands with Cas and walking through the path made by family and friends to the marriage circle -- a ring of of gold and silver colored bands in which Cas and Dean could present their oaths. 

Dean wasn't much of a speech giver, and neither was Cas, so they'd opted for nonverbal oaths. They'd already said all that needed to be said in private when they mated. Of course, Ellen had to introduce them before they could begin their rituals. 

"Thank you all for joining us tonight. This is a big day for my boy Dean, and his partner Cas. I'm glad to be standing here in front of you all because... because we lost Dean once. I thought he was gone for good, and I was ready to mourn him like a son. God knows we've lost so much to this war." Ellen's lower lip trembled and Dean wondered for a moment before she continued on, "Dean was taken from us like so many others, and it was Cas here that brought him back. For that, I'm eternally grateful, and from the moment I saw you two walking through camp together you were part of my tribe, Cas. Dean's been a restless boy ever since he was young. He's usually lookin' out for anyone but himself. But when he's with you, he's got a calm about him; a focus. Peaceful. For that I'm in awe, and I'm happy to welcome you to the family."

Cas smiled at Ellen before she stepped back into the crowd. The energy in the small hall they'd rented was high, and Dean could hear his camp mates breathing in the quiet. 

Cas's eyes drew him in until he forgot about the people surrounding them, and Dean knew exactly what Ellen meant when she said Cas focused him. Cas was all he could see, all he could think about in that moment: how perfect he was, even in his imperfections.  

Dean wanted to marry him. He needed to marry him. 

Dean drew a hand over Cas's chest, peeling the collar away to reveal a generous portion of Cas's chest, and the tattoo of Dean's name over his heart. It wasn't his given name, but a symbol Cas associated with Dean; a sun scale, for righteousness. Dean had a handprint over his heart to represent Cas. 

Dean leaned close and brushed his lips chastely over the newly healed skin of the tattoo, whispering in the ancient language against Cas's taught skin. He felt Cas shudder under his lips, but when Dean pulled away his face was relaxed, happy. 

Cas bent close next and then it was Dean's turn to shudder as Cas kissed his heart and whispered the unbreakable vow against Dean's skin

Next, they washed away the heartache of past love, starting their romantic lives new. Jo brought a gold bowl of water and Dean brushed wet fingers over Cas's forehead, his heart, and lastly his lips. Cas wet Dean's forehead, heart, and his mating mark. They joined hands. 

Dean tried to talk through cotton balls as he pushed himself to say the very few words he had to memorize for this ceremony.

"I take you from this day forth as my husband and mate, to steady me like a helping hand in times of trouble and to hold in times of joy. I will care for and love you in sickness and health, from this new beginning to whatever end our lives take." Dean breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't screwed up such a simple task. Now it was on Cas. 

"And I take you from this day forth as my husband and mate, to balance my highs and my lows, my weaknesses and my strengths. I will care for you, Dean Winchester, and love you always, no matter sickness or health, from this new beginning to whatever end our lives take."

Now the part Dean could do, no problem.

Cas's lips parted his gently, unhurriedly, as their friends burst out in applause and everyone swarmed over the careful distance they'd kept during the ceremony to put hands on whatever part of Cas and Dean remained untouched. Dean laughed at all the commotion, and Cas drew him into a fierce hug. Then Jo had weaseled her way into their arms, followed by Charlie, and Sam, until Cas and Dean had been completely separated by congratulatory bodies.

 

* * *

 

Dean closed the door to the bathroom at work, avoided Jo's eye as she cast a quizzical glance at him, and sat at his desk silently for a few moments before starting up his work again. 

"Something wrong, Dean?"

"We need to get those visa forms in by tomorrow or else Lacie won't have hers by the time she takes her trip," Dean replied without looking up from signing paperwork. After a few moments he stacked the papers and set them in his "outgoing" bin for Jo to put in envelopes and mail. Then he gathered his coat and stood from his chair. 

"I'm taking an early lunch," he announced. 

"You sure you're all right?"

Dean met her eyes briefly before shaking his head. 

"I just need a break. I hate paperwork."

"Don't wear yourself out."

Dean muttered a dark "no kidding" before striding out the door without so much as looking back at Jo. She tilted her head and watched him leave. 

Dean arrived at the stark government building that housed Cas's job in what Dean almost considered record time -- seven minutes and thirty seconds -- and beeped him at the front desk to drop his work and come to lunch with him.

"Dean, I wasn't expecting you." Cas's voice had an edge of tension Dean couldn't place without seeing his face.

"I know. Just come, ok?" Dean sighed, avoiding the front desk lady's inquisitive eyes.

 "... be down in a moment."

"Thanks," Dean let his breath go as he handed the phone back to the... "Linda", her name tag read. He tried to make small chat with her as he waited for Cas, but he somehow managed to knock over her jar full of pens. Twice.

Cas appeared from the elevator-- hair its usual rumpled, and dressed in a very government-looking trench coat and suit ensemble -- as Dean was cleaning up his second mess. 

Cas kissed his lips (vaguely unusual by Dean's standards as they kept public affection to a minimum) and scanned his face earnestly. 

"What's wrong?"

"People keep asking me that," Dean marveled.

"You sounded strange on the intercom."

"Everything's good." Dean attempted a smile. "Come to lunch with me."

"Ok..." Cas's expression told him plainly that he wasn't buying what he was selling, but, to his credit, he followed him outside silently.  

They sat outside at a little bakery they liked. Cas ordered some soup with a name Dean didn't want to try to repeat, and Dean got several slices of homemade pizza.  

"How's work?"

"It's the same," Cas muttered, his bright eyes trained on Dean with characteristic intensity. "Refugees coming in every day, and I'll probably have to take a few days trip to the Eastern border to greet a particularly large new group and walk them through the routine. American alphas pulling the same entitlement crap, nothing new, though I did manage to wrangle the rights to a particularly violent band of omegas responsible for several arson crimes and one self-defense murder. I think that royally pissed them off, as the alphas wanted to draw and quarter them, and now they're living in condos and sipping government supplied wine," Cas said blandly, almost matter-of-fact. "But you're not well. And you need to tell me what's going on." 

Dean winced at that, downing several gulps of water before he responded. 

"You can tell that I threw up this morning? Was it my breath? Gross."

"What? You did? I meant the fact that you're quite nervous right now, Dean." Cas sneaked a hand over his, stroking a warm thumb over the back of Dean's palm. That strange mating mind-meld feeling crept through him instantly, like Cas stroked his hand over all Dean's unpleasant emotions rather than his physical hand. He was still getting used to the psychic weirdness factor, though he had to say so far it had significantly enhanced his life. 

"Oh." Dean drew a shaky breath. Cas's touch steadied him, but not completely. "I've... uh, well... I'm not quite sure how to spit this out, to be honest with you Cas..."

Cas was practically vibrating with how focused he was on Dean, his eyebrows drawn together seriously, his mouth tugged down in a near permanent frown.

"Haven't been feeling so hot lately," Dean managed through a shaky breath, pushing himself to speak. "Threw up a couple time this week, thought it was that fish we had for dinner on Friday. But it's Wednesday now, so I'm pretty sure... it's something else."

"What?  What could it be?" Cas looked gravely concerned. 

Dean stared. Of course Cas needed him to spit it out. 

"I'm pregnant." Dean sat very still, letting the words crash down over both of them. Cas leaned back in his chair almost immediately. Dean grasped for his hand when it went missing; if they were still touching he could try to prod at that mental connection and gauge Cas's reaction. As it was, all he had was a visual to make his guesswork. 

"Oh," was all Cas managed after several processing moments. 

"Yeah." Dean sighed. "I took that stupid pee test, which, by the way? Gross. Peed on my hand on accident." Dean rubbed a (now clean) hand over his eyes. "Positive. Twice."

"That's why you've been sick." Cas finally connected the dots, and Dean almost rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah."

"Dean." Cas leaned forward suddenly, and when he took Dean's hand again all Dean could feel was calm and soothing coming through their bond. "Tell me what this means to you."

"I... I don't know. I'm." Dean swallowed. "I'm not sure I want to keep it." 

Cas's intensity levels seemed to kick up a notch, which Dean never thought possible until it happened. Cas didn't seem to have a maximum intensity level. 

"I see."

"Which, I'm sorry if that's a shitty thing to say to you, but... but I can't lie, Cas."

"I wouldn't want you to. Why do you feel that way?"

"Because--" Dean let a harsh breath of frustration go,"because this whole world's fucked! Yeah, we're happy now. Yeah, we're not on the fucking run, stealing for food, and running with guns at our back, and waking up in the middle of the night wondering if today's the day we get dragged into those stupid fucking buildings surrounded by barbed wire and tanks." Dean's chest was heaving as he broke off, his voice cracking under Cas's even stare. "But we were, Cas, and not so long ago. Nothing's fucking safe. Anything could change at any time. America could invade Canada, or the alphas here could decide to play by US rules on a whim, or who fucking knows! I never feel safe anymore, not really. I'm not sure I ever did. Or ever will. I don't want to drag a kid into this bullshit."  _  
_

_"Dean."_ Cas started softly, and he was sending his soothing mojo through their joined hands again. "Everyone feels that way. That's part of life."

"Yeah. And that's bullshit, Cas. That's not how things should be." 

"That's also part of the magic of living, though," Cas argued, his voice infinitely softer and more reasonable than Dean's likely sounded. "Possibility exists inside chaos. Chaos is evil sometimes, absolutely. Many times. But without chaos, I never would have met you. Anything can happen at any time. But Dean, what's likely to happen? That's far more organized. And that comforts me."

Dean tried to consider Cas's side, but he was worked up now. And emotional as hell. "I'm never going to just be cool with the way things are, because it's all fucked. Now that I think about it, it's wrong that suffering even exists! It's wrong that innocent people suffer, and that anything could happen to anyone, no matter how good or bad they've been. Including our--" Dean choked again. He wasn't sure how he ever thought a restaurant was an appropriate place to have this conversation. "There's no guarantee we could keep them safe is all."

"Dean, I believe we can love this child." Cas was sending new, fiercer feelings through their connection now, meant to rile him up in a different way. "We have the resources, we have the time, we have the energy now while we're young, and we have the commitment to each other to support our relationship." Cas closed his eyes. "I'm not going to argue existential ideas with you because I obviously don't have the answers. I've done some horrific things, many you know and many you don't. I've seen those dark, merciless corners of our existent and come out scarred. But I chose a different path, one out of the darkness, and one I had to fight for because it wasn't offered to me. I changed my way of living, in large thanks to you. You're right, our family may not have a happy story, or a happy ending. But is that likely? No. It's not. There is order in the chaos, predictable patterns. Being a good person and living conscientiously in society doesn't guarantee you a good life, but it certainly increases your chances. I think we, and our child, have a pretty good shot, even with this bullshit around us right now. Even with a whole country at our throats."

Dean swallowed hard, tears still fighting their way through his self restraint and onto his lower lids. 

"I'm just... not sure I can do this, Cas."

"Think about it some more." Cas offered him a small smile. "Remember you have me -- you're not alone in this. Can we protect our baby from everything? No. And we shouldn't, they'd never truly live. But I think we can find great happiness in this journey. If you decide to abort, I'm not going to think any differently of you. We do this as a team, ok?"

"Ok." Dean could feel more tears breaking loose over his cheeks and he quickly wiped them away.

"There's no wrong or right choice, here, Dean. Just different paths for us to take."

"You want me to keep it." Dean shuddered as the words passed his lips. 

Cas gripped his hand harder. 

"I want you to make up your own mind. I'm prepared to walk down either road with you. You told me before we mated that this was a possibility, and I told you then and I'll tell you now -- I don't need children to be happy, but I would enjoy them. If you don't want to do this, then I sure as hell don't want to make it happen. We have to be on the same page for this to work."

"So you won't hate me?"

"I could never hate you." Cas's eyes were soft, so much softer than Dean felt he deserved with all this anger pent up in his chest. "Death is nothing to fear, it's as natural as life itself."

"Ok." Dean shuddered. "Ok, I'll think about it." 

"We both need to take the rest of the day off." Cas sank back in his chair, deflating suddenly. "Go home, clear our heads. Relax. Spend some time with each other. We've both been working too much lately."

"I have an appointment this afternoon, though." Dean grunted, feeling the way Cas looked. 

"I have three." Cas grinned.   _Mr. Early to Work and Late to Leave joking about canceling his appointments,_ Dean marveled. "But I think I caught that stomach bug you've got."

Dean went to argue, but the mischief in Cas's eyes translated in Dean's head. "Oh."

"You should let Jo know you're not feeling well and have her cancel your appointments, too."

"I--" Dean stopped himself. How could he resist an offer like that? "I'll see if she can move it."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 "How did this even happen?" Cas wanted to know, stroking Dean's chin with his thumb as they lay propped against each other on their bed. "We were both careful."

"Probably had something to do with all that time I was on the run, going on and off birth control when we had it in stock and when we ran out. I've heard that can fuck things up in your body, make the medicine less effective even if you get back into a regular pattern. Then your rut somehow synched up with my heat last month..."

"We'll have to be more attentive in the future. You should see the doctor about a new medicine so we will have more control over these sorts of decisions in the future."

"More chaos." Dean sighed and pressed his cheek into Cas's chest, closing his eyes. 

"More possibilities," Cas countered, stroking a hand through Dean's hair. This close, their mating bond felt almost tangible, and they seemed to melt together into a mind-melding amoeba of feelings and thoughts. Sitting like this with Cas and just feeling his presence had quickly become one of his favorite married activities. He also enjoyed holding hands far more often than he had when they were just dating -- he used to think it was sappy and gross when the mated couples held hands or touched each other every second, but now he totally understood. Why feel alone all the time if you could feel at one with someone else?

"I love you," Dean mumbled, feeling deeply vulnerable the more he thought about their situation.

"I love you too." Cas pressed a kiss to the top of Dean's head before smoothing his fingers through his hair once more. "From now until whatever end our lives take."

"Right." Dean grinned at the reiteration of their wedding vows. He always felt a little itchy around his heart tattoo when he thought about their wedding. Stung like a motherfucker when he got it, but Cas was there holding his hand so it wasn't so bad. 

Cas had a way of doing that. 

"I'm not very good with babies."

"I am. And it will only be a baby for two years. Then it will be a toddler. After that, a child. Then... a teenager."

"I can deal with teenagers. They're just overly emotional adults."

"I'll take the baby years if you take the teenage years," Cas teased, his voice a low rumble.

"We're a team, remember?" Dean reminded him, getting a squeeze to his shoulder in return.

"We are." 

"How do you even name a kid? Shit." Dean wondered almost pitifully. "And I'll have to figure out how to stop cursing somehow."

"Not until they're old enough to understand you." Cas's laugh rumbled through his chest. "You've still got a few years to curse like a sailor."

"What, you don't want our kid's first words to be 'motherfucking shit'?"

"I'd prefer 'dada' or 'papa', actually," 

"Priss." Dean sniffed. 

"Some of us weren't raised in an auto shop, Dean."

"Yeah, well this kid just might be, so they better get used to it," Dean grumbled as Cas rubbed a hand along his arm and laughed at him again. 

 "You sound pretty sure about that." Cas commented, and though the words were light their meaning was heavy. 

Dean paused, his response on his tongue. He sunk into that mating feeling a little more and shared his deep contentment with Cas. 

"Yeah. I am."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably do an epilogue at some point, so if you're interested in seeing the wedding and hearing more backstory about Cas and Dean's roles in the war you can subscribe for that :).


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